Linked Chronicles of Time and Wind
by Nenilein
Summary: When Link returns to Outset island for the first time in a year, he just can't get rid of the feeling that something inside him is trying to be remembered. The next morning, a boy who claims to be the hero of time appears before him...
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

_You know those stories… about the highest tower always being the most ominous one?_

_Well, I know that those stories are true. I have been to this kind of tower yet. More than once. _

_And I think, that this is one of those again… yes, this certainly has to be it…_

_The highest tower._

_But the highest tower of what?...Somehow I know that I won't get an answer to this question._

_This laughter…_

_Him…_

_Ganondorf… Ganondorf, Ganondorf, Ganondorf…_

_Why?_

_He shouldn't be here… Wherever this is. He shouldn't be anywhere. He should be dead. Impaled by the blade, lost beneath the waves._

_I know that I killed him._

_But this is his cold laughter. And those are his cold eyes. I can see the same greed in them… and the same satisfaction as back then. Back then, when he took her…_

…_Who is this woman in the crystal?_

"_LINK!"_

_I am answering…?_

"_ZELDA!"_

_What is going on? This not my voice… This is the voice of a grown man… a strong man…_

…_I'm not that strong yet, am I?_

_And even if… Why? Why am I answering? Why am I calling her this name? This can't be her name… Because Zelda is… Zelda is the girl, who…_

_Can you be this woman? Can this really be you?_

_Why am I raising my arm? I want to ask her first… _

_Why am I attacking already? I want to know first… Is that you…?_

…_Zelda?_

_

* * *

_

_A forest…_

_A girl, dressed in green… like me…_

_Is this a fairy on her shoulder? What strange kind of flute is she playing on…?_

_I think I know this kind of flute… It starts with an "O"… O… Oca… an Ocarina?_

_Have I seen this somewhere before?_

_Have I seen… her somewhere before?... I think her name is there… somewhere… _

…_No… I never saw her before, did I? …Did I?_

"_Hey. Do you remember the song, Link?"_

"_I…"_

_This is my voice…no, wait. Something… something is not right. _

_But the word came out of my mouth, right?..._

…_I'm so confused…_

_Where is this? Who is she?... She's smiling…_

"_Shall we play it together? You have an instrument with you, right?"_

…_I do have something on me… _

_

* * *

_

_And if you want me to play a song… even though I don't know why… I will—_

_

* * *

_

…_Oh. She's gone, huh?_

_

* * *

_

…_I never…_

…_I never saw that much grass before… so much green… such wide fields…_

…_did I?_

_Why am I not amazed…? Why does this feel familiar…?_

_A fairy… huh? A blue one…_

_Is she… talking to me?_

"_Link… you've gotten so far… you've become so strong… Now, you truly are a hero. I… I'm really glad to be your partner!"_

"_Why are you saying that now, of all times, Navi?"_

_Again, this deep, adult voice… Why did I ask her that? Where do I even know her name from?_

…_I don't understand it…_

_Is she… hesitating to answer? She seems so nervous…_

"_Well… you see… after we… if could be, that I… I'll have to…"_

"_You'll have to do what?"_

"_Oh… it's… not that important! …Hee hee!"_

_I know that she's lying… I can tell when people's smiles are fake... At least like this…_

…_But what does this all have to do me with me anyway? I don't remember ever meeting her… _

_

* * *

_

_Or is my memory playing tricks on me?..._

_

* * *

_

…_Oh, gone again?_

_

* * *

_

_Is that the…_

_This can't impossibly be…_

_the moon..._

_It is coming down._

_I hear screams… screeches… _

_And it is coming down._

…_it will fall…_

…_it will fall…_

…_do I have to die now?_

_This blonde fairy… why is she looking at me like this…?_

"_Link! Do something! Tael! Please, we gotta help him! My brother!"_

_But I can't. I wish I could. But what can I do?_

_I'm not strong enough to stop this, am I?_

_Am I?_

_Do I have a way to help her?_

"_Tatl…"_

…_Is that her name?_

_"__Please, do something, Link!"_

_Maybe I can try to…_

_

* * *

_

…_cast a miracle? Maybe I can do it…_

_

* * *

_

_Oh… I guess I hesitated too long… _

_Everything is fading…_

…_will I fade too…?_

_

* * *

_

_Is that you… Is that really you?_

_What are you wearing? Why are you moving so carefully and subtly? This is not like you… is it?_

_Why do you look so different today… what is that shine in your eyes?_

…_I only saw this shine once yet. Just one time…_

"_And you are sure, that you want to leave Hyrule? If you go, who is going protect it?"_

_Hyrule…_

_Hyrule is…_

"_I'm coming back, Zelda! It won't take me long!"_

_Hyrule is gone…_

_I can't go back there…_

"_Do you promise?"_

_I can't… I can't go back there._

_Nobody can go back there…_

"_Zelda…"_

_It's gone, don't you remember?..._

"_Do you?"_

_It's gone…_

_

* * *

_

…_it's gone because I didn't act like I was supposed to act, right? I was too slow…_

…_Are you even listening to me?... Oh, you've left…?_

…_How typical…_

_

* * *

_

…_Or was it me who left? But wouldn't I have noticed…?_

_

* * *

_

_"Hey. Do you remember the song, Link?"_

_What song?_

"_I'm really glad to be your partner!"_

_Who are you?_

"_Please, do something, Link!"_

_But how?_

"_Do you promise?"_

_I could try to…_

"_LINK!"_

_I'm here._

"_Where are you Link?"_

_I'm right here!_

" _Why aren't you coming back?"_

_Can't you hear me? I am here! I am right here!_

_My voice… What happened to my voice?_

_Why can't I answer?_

_Am I even there…?_

_Why can't I…_

_**Link!**_

_**Link!**_

…_answer?_

_**LINK!**_

_**

* * *

**_

_"Link! -_

* * *

-Wake up, NOW!"

"OUCH!"

Link was ripped out of his dream rather unpleasantly. He spontaneously started rubbing his cheek. It took him a few seconds to realize that that was because someone had slapped him. Link turned to the left to face the culprit, whom he found to be dressed in her usual garb. A blue jacket, mauve shirt and a pair of grey pants. Not to forget the incredibly tight knot she wore her hair in.

Tetra, his friend and boss (given the look in her eyes, she was more of the later than of the former right now) had put her hands to her waist and was tapping her food to the ground in a rhythm which indicated impatience.

"Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Link threw Tetra an angry look, but she just rolled her eyes.

"Outset Island just came into view. Wasn't it you, who wanted to get home by today so badly?"

"Ah! Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Link jumped out of his bed and put on his shoes. The, he ran onto deck. The moment he spotted the approaching island's silhouette on the horizon, he smiled.

Really, he could see it, Outset Island. His home, his childhood.

"Ah… finally back!"

"Oh, so now you're wide awake, or what?"

Tetra was standing behind him.

"Sometimes I just don't get how you work, Link!"

Link turned around. "You could have woke me up a little bit less, well, _violently_, Tetra!"

"You didn't hear yourself, Link!" answered Tetra "Shouting, like someone was trying to kill you… what were you dreaming of anyway?"

"Oh yeah… that dream…"

He suddenly remembered what he saw in it…

"Say, Tetra…"

"Hm?"

"If I told you that I dreamt of fairies and girls… what would you tell me?"

"That most guys dream of those things and that I think that this perfectly shows what pretty much all of their brain activity must be about!" claimed Tetra in an teasing manner.

"N-No, not like this! I mean… one of the girl's was Zelda!"

"Yeah, nice try, Casanova. You're still scrubbing the deck tomorrow."

"Not you! A different Zelda!"

"You don't know any different Zelda!"

"Yes, but I…"

Link sighed… It was pretty much pointless to talk to Tetra about something like that…

Still…

What kind of dream had this been?


	2. Timeless Stories

"_Mou nido to hagurete shimawanu you ni to..._

_(I'm going to try not to go astray anymore...)"_

_-Unite (Ayumi Hamasaki)_

_Chapter 1: Timeless Stories_

"…_And so, the Hero returned to the beautiful Princess Zelda, looking at her eye to eye, as he told her, what had happened. He took the sacred instrument, they Ocarina of time and played a song, a song of laughter and joy, along with Princess Zelda, who smiled and sang from the very depths of her heart, as she felt the light returning to her kingdom. And as this ancient melody was carried over the land by the wind, the people started celebrating their newfound freedom in harmony and happiness!"_

Aryll read the story as if she had always done it, but it really was her first time.

The first time in years that the great hero's festival was held again on Outset Island. This was what Link had returned here for, along with Tetra – who, for once, wore her hair open, not tied up into a ball. She even donned a dress and some jewelry today and… hey, was this actually lip-gloss?

Link couldn't believe how easy it had been to persuade her to dress up as Zelda, her ancestor, for one day. But, well, after all it was just because of them that the tradition of celebrating this sacred day was taken on once again.

The young hero and Princess Zelda…

He looked down himself: He was still wearing the green tunic his grandma had forced to wear him on his twelfth birthday.

Yes, he was a young hero and Tetra was a beautiful princess "Zelda."

A big grin took over his face momentarily. His "Zelda" would never "smile and sing from the very depths of her heart." She was more likely to throw a broom against his head and subsequently tell him to scrub the deck and underdeck. Just how could she look so innocent and pure today…?

"Link! Aryll's still reading!" hissed Tetra, as she realized that Link was gazing at her in a dreamy manner.

"Oh! Sorry!"

He quickly turned his head around, looking at his sister once again and listening to the rest of her story:

"…_But the evil monster Ganondorf was exiled and sealed, deep within a secret place, where he would never ever lie his diabolical hands on the golden goddesses force again! And all of Hyrule celebrated, seven days and seven nights and they sang a song to thank the hero, a song of the tribe who raised and taught him… a song of the sacred forest, the sage Saria's song!"_

Aryll jumped onto a tree-stump and took out a little flute. She started playing a rhythmic, simple melody and all of the sudden, Link was feeling nostalgic… a little bit sad. Yeah, he felt a little bit like crying. Although this song was cheerful and bright… why was this?

His sister continued her story. _"But on the eight day, the hero disappeared into the forest and was never seen again. He took the old Ocarina with him, searching for 'something lost,' and only Princess Zelda knew, where he went and why. He never returned and all that stayed was a legend and hope…. Until…"_

Aryll laughed. She stopped telling the story as it was written down.

"Well, until my big brother drew the holy sword and saved the day! Hey, everybody, cheer for our Link!"

Surprised by Aryll's sudden reference to him, Link turned around to find the villagers cheering and shouting. It didn't take long 'till Tetra grabbed his left wrist and jumped up with him.

"Well! I, direct descendant of THE princess Zelda guarantee you: THIS guy is a worthy successor to any hero you've ever heard about!"

Link blushed. "Haha… Wow, Tetra, I didn't think you'd…"

"But he's also the lousiest pirate I've seen in my live and waiting for him to find some treasure is like waiting for a cuckoo to lay golden eggs with purple freckles!"

Oh, Tetra, good ol' Tetra. She had always a reason to complain about him. Sometimes she really made Link wanna hit her, but she, no matter what she behaved like, was still a woman and you can't hit a woman. That's iron law.

The cheering for Link had been replaced by loud laughing through Tetra's comment and Link wished he could sink into the floor this instance… even though Tetra was right. He hadn't found a single valuable thing ever since the Bellum incident…

"Well…" Link sighed "I'm not perfect either!"

"Hee hee hee!"

"What's so funny, Aryll!?"

Aryll tried not to laugh, but she just found everything so hilarious that she couldn't help it. "But… Grandma?" She turned around and her eyes turned big and round: "Tell me, tell me… sooo… if Tetra is, like, the grand-grand-grand-graaaaand-daughter of Princess Zelda…. Does this mean that Link is the grand-grand-grand-grand-son of the Hero of Time?"

"Huh?"

Link looked up, surprised. He never thought of something like that before… but now, that Aryll mentioned it…

She smiled with a starlight like radiance.

"And if that was really true, I would be the grand-grand-grand-grand-daughter of a real shining knight on a beautiful horse, right, right?"

"Ha ha..." Grandma laughed. "Interesting thought, dear, but impossible though: you read it yourself: The hero of time disappeared at young age and was never seen again. He left no one behind, who could have brought his descendants into being."

"Oh, yes… that's true… Awww…"

Tetra winked at her. "I could have told you, that Link's definitely not related to a celebrity!"

"Hey!"

"But… Grandma… what was the 'something lost' the hero was searching for?"

All eyes turned to Aryll. That question was really… interesting.

"Some say…" Grandma started, "…that he sought for the great fairy of truth."

"A fairy of truth?" asked Tetra.

"Yes. A very powerful great fairy, who was supposed to live in the woods of the old kingdom. It was said that she could give you every answer to every question you asked her."

"What did he want to know from her?" asked Link in excitement. He had the strangest feeling that it was something that should interest him…

"I have no idea. The only other thing, that the legends tell us, is that Princess Zelda pleaded him to stay, but he refused… and even that's just a story that nobody can say was true for sure."

"A powerful fairy…"

Why did Ciela come to Link's mind?

Yes, she was pretty powerful, but that the thought of her came to him so suddenly… and he didn't even think of her true from, but of the little, white-bluish glowing fairy, as who he came to know her.

Why was he having all this strange feelings of familiarity ever since Aryll started telling this story? That was so annoying… just what was the matter with him today?

"If there's just one time to find out about all of that, it has to be today!" added Grandma finally.

Link listened closely: "What do you mean?"

"Today is the day, the legend tells us, that the gate between times was closed by Zelda and the hero. It is said, that playing the old royal family's most treasured melody in this night can revive the memories and spirits of this ancient time!"

"The royal family's treasured melody…"

"You know it!" Tetra laughed "It's the song, my mother taught me. I'm sometimes humming it on the reeling, remember?"


	3. Awakened by a Lullaby

Chapter 2: Awakened by a Lullaby

The royal family's most treasured melody…

Link was lying in his bed, awake and restless.

The Hero of Time…

Oh, how many questions he had, that only this person would be able to answer…

For example, why did this ancient hero start his own journey in the first place? Link didn't do it for fun after all; he only did it to help Aryll.

What did he see? Was it similar to what Link had seen and done? Where there things among those, that Link should maybe know, be aware of? What was the ancient Princess Zelda like? How did he get the Triforce of Courage in first place?

Why did he leave Hyrule anyway? Did it really have to do with some "fairy of truth"?

A sigh…

Link would never be able to sleep that night, not with his head full of questions like this…

This was, when he heard a voice from outside.

It was Tetra. She was singing the ancient melody again…

"Hm…"

Link threw a look at his Baton, which was lying on the desk next to his bed.

Revive the memories and spirits of the ancient time…

"Well… I could at least try."

Just when Tetra was about to repeat the Melody outside, Link raised the Baton and started to conduct the air around him, making it sing along with Tetra's voice. For a moment, Link was wondering if Tetra was noticing how the wind had joined her song, but that didn't really matter anyway…

What a beautiful, calm melody…

A lullaby…

He didn't know why, but suddenly something told him, that this melody was actually meant to be a lullaby.

"Princess Zelda's Lullaby"…

Satisfied and a bit calmer, Link lay down in his bed again and slipped away into a dream rather quickly…

-~-

_A girl dressed in green clothing, her hair in the very same color, playing on an ocarina._

_A blue-skinned girl with fins, smiling in his direction._

_A girl with long brown hair, singing along with the ocarina's song._

_A fair-skinned, lovely princess, playing a different, blue Ocarina, leading the singer and the green girl._

_And behind them, a fairy with blue hair, surrounded by a bright shine, whispering his name:_

"_Link…_

…

_Goodbye…"_

-~-

Sun rays…

Link started to slowly open his eyes…

He didn't feel too well… Oh, he just wasn't used to sleeping in a bed standing on solid earth anymore.

Still a little sleepy, he rubbed his eyes and rose his upper body up…

Wondering, _what's for breakfa-_

…

A feeling like cold water running down his back captured the Hero of Winds.

There was someone before him.

Sitting in front of his bed.

A boy, roughly his age.

Wearing HIS clothes.

"WHAA!"

"WHAA!"

Link jumped out of his bed and grabbed his sword, while the other boy did the same – yes, he had a sword as well.

This stance…

Was Link dreaming? This guy had the same battle stance as him!

He even looked a bit similar to him, aside from the clothes… What the hell?

"Who are you?" asked Link nervously.

The other boy didn't seem any less excited than he did when he answered. "My name's Link, and I come from the southern forests…"

"Hey, what are you talking about? MY name is Link!... Southern forests?..."

"Say, why are you dressing up like a Kokiri and claiming you had my name? Are you some kind of wannabe of me, or what?"

"Wannabe? Who's a wannabe?"

"Well, you!"

Link was about to snap. "OK, whoever you are or claim to be, get out of my room, or I'll get mad!"

"Ha ha, and what are you gonna do then? Poke me to death with your toy?"

"It's not a toy!"

Already pretty bugged, Link raised his sword: "I am one of the best swordsmen around, so I would take me serious, if I were you!"

"Is that supposed to be a challenge? Do you really think, you could take me on?"

"Well, we're about the same height so, yeah, why not?"

"Same height, OK, but I am a famous hero! You might have already heard about me?"

"What the--- Listen, you are getting something wrong! I'm the only one around here, who's ever been called "hero" by anyone!"

"You think you are tough?"

"I know it!"

"Prove it!"

"OK, but I warned you!"

Link charged for his opponent. "Spinning Slash!!"

"WHAT?!"

Absolutely surprised, the other boy could just barely escape the attack, by blocking with his shield.

He didn't immediately react, but suddenly started to stare at Link.

"T-This technique… Who taught it to you?!" he asked, perplexed.

"Nobody! I figured it out all by myself!" answered Link.

"But… I was the only one, who ever knew about it… I…"

The boy let sword and shield sink down and continued to look at Link. Into his eyes.

Suddenly, Link noticed something about those eyes. They seemed, familiar… After a few moments, he realized, that those eyes were the same he saw every time he looked into a mirror… just like his own eyes. Exactly the same look.

And this other boy seemed so… confused. Link just knew, he wasn't just playing around with him. This guy… he really didn't know what was going on.

"Who.. Who are you?", asked the boy Link "And… where am I here? Is this still Termina? Or am I back in Hyrule again?"

"Hyrule?"

Why Hyrule? Link didn't understand. Did this boy think, that Hyrule was still…

Link took a deep breath. A strange thought rose up in his mind…

As calm as possible, he tried to explain. "Before you say anything, please let me try to explain: my name is actually Link, I don't know if that's a coincidence or something, but it's my name!"

"Weird…" The other boy seemed to believe him as well now.

"And… I never heard of a place called "Termina" before, but… Hyrule… how shall I say this – this is Outset Island. And the archipelago this island belongs to lies over the ruins that were once Hyrule kingdom… about 1000 years ago."

"T-Thousand years?!"

The other Link tripped out of shock. "D-Don't mess around with me! I was gone for, like, 4 days!! There's no way I have been away from Hyrule for this long! I would have noticed!... Then, again… I can't really remember what I did do last… I… I was trying to get out of Termina and then… I think, I'm having kind of a blank here… What happened?..."

"So… you… you left Hyrule? And you don't know if you ever made it back?", asked Link the one before him. He started to get an idea whom he must have actually been talking to here.

The other boy nodded: "Yes, that's roughly what happened…"

"OK… And, before you left Hyrule… did you accomplish something significant? Are you… known by some kind of "title" or something?"

"Ha! Finally!" The other boy jumped up. "Yes, of course I have a title! They call me Link, Hero of Time! I freed the Kingdom of Hyrule and its royal family from the traitor Ganondorf and–"

"- and saved Hyrule from an age of never ending darkness. You own the sacred Ocarina of time and are barer of the Triforce of Courage!"

"Hey, that's right!"

Link got excited. "Quick, show me your sword-hand! The left one!"

"Um… All right."

The other Link showed his left hand's back to him. Link added his own left hand to it.

They both bore the same mark: Three golden triangles, connected to each other and forming a bigger triangle. Only the lower right corner of the symbol shone brighter than the others.

"I can't believe it…" whispered Link "You… You must be the Hero of Time!"

"That's what I told you!"

Link took a step forward. "OK, listen to me closely! I'm a hero as well! I'm called 'The Hero of Winds!' And… something really weird is happening right now!


	4. Simmilarities

Chapter 3: Similarities

How...

How do you explain something that you're not capable of understanding yourself? The first thin, that came to Link's mind was to start where it all began for him – with his 12th birthday. The day everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

Carefully, he tried to explain who he was, what he had seen and done up till now, and what he learned about himself and Tetra and the ancient kingdom of Hyrule.

"Yesterday evening, I had such a feeling that I needed to meet you. Just once. I didn't really think that song would actually bring you here, I was just… kind of experimenting!"

"And… you're my successor?" asked the other Link in a very confused manner.

"Well… I don't know. Maybe "successor" is a bit too much, but, yeah, you are a hero who slew Ganondorf and I'm a hero who slew Ganondorf. One can't deny that there's some similarity there."

"So, Ganondorf's dead and the Triforce destroyed?"

"At least, that's what we think… and hope." answered Link, shrugging.

The other Link turned around and gazed out of the window. "I can't believe it… 1000 years… and Hyrule was flooded. Just because I wasn't around to do something about it. Way to go…."

"Hey, don't be hard on yourself!" Link said quickly "It wasn't your fault! And, besides… I don't even think you ever made it back to Hyrule…."

"…How do you mean that? I'm… I'm here now!" was the second Link's answer.

"Yeah, but, of all places, in my house and my room, don't you think that's strange? Also… I conducted some kind of royal, ancient song on the Wind Waker yesterday. My grandmother said that it 'revives the memories and spirits of the ancient time,' so…."

"… Spirits? … Hey! I'm not dead!" the other one shouted suddenly.

Link tried to calm him down. "Look, I happen to know a few ghosts and…well… being dead may not be as unpleasant as you may thi- OUCH!"

Link #2 hit him with the palm of his hand. "Could a ghost, or spirit, or whatever do this to you?!"

"Well…"

"OK, you are nuts, I'm certain, and I'm outta here!"

The second Link grabbed his sword and ran out of the room and subsequently, the house.

Link jumped up and followed him. "Hey! Where are you going?!"

"Home! Or at least searching for someone who can bring me home!"

"But everybody will think you're me!"

"We're not THAT similar!"

The other Link was just about to cross the bridge, when he suddenly, for no apparent reason, fell down.

"Did he trip?" Link ran closer to check on the other boy. He found him lying there, the color had left his face… if Link didn't know better, he would have said that the other boy looked almost… transparent, like he was… dissolving.

But as Link came closer, he gradually seemed to get better again. "Hey!"

Link bowed down to the boy. "Are you all right? What happened?"

The other one slowly raised his upper body. He seemed dizzy. "I… don't know… I suddenly just felt so weak and… HUH?!"

Just when he wanted to shield his eyes from the sun with his hand, he noticed that the sun was shining right through it. "W-What's going on?!"

"I told you that something's the matter with you!"

Link grabbed the boy's hand—it returned to normal immediately. "I… I'm fine! How did you do this?"

"I didn't!" said Link quickly, "I just touched your hand, that's it, seriously!"

"Hmm… Maybe…" The other Link got an idea. "Maybe it happened because I moved away from you! You're probably serving as my energy source… or something…"

A strange smile passed Link's face as he heard this. "And that would be, because…?"

"I am not DEAD!" shouted the other Link, "It's gotta be some kind of… spell or curse, but I'm certainly and completely NOT dead!"

Link gave the other boy an unimpressed, not to say slightly insulting, look. "A curse? Seriously?"

"I've seen preeeetty weird curses on myself yet, believe me! Ever been trapped in a Deku-scrub's body?"

"Who should curse you to stay near me or dissolve into thin air otherwise?"

"How do I know, I've got plenty of enemies!"

Link sighed. That guy just didn't want to realize it… Then again, why was he so sure that his theory was right anyway? Maybe he decided this a bit too fast. After all, he didn't know anything about this guy, except that he claimed to be the Hero of Time. And all Link knew about the Hero of Time was a legend, which told that he supposedly disappeared from the face of the earth after saving it. Goddesses know, what really caused his disappearance. It couldn't have just been dead; it could also have been… time travel, for example. He was called the 'Hero of _Time_' after all.

"OK… let's say you didn't die…"

"Thank you!"

"What are we gonna do now? We're setting sail again soon and I'm pretty sure that Tetra wouldn't approve another passenger on her ship. She was already pretty mad when I begged her to tag along back then!"

"Then we'll just have to find a solution before you set out!" was the other Link's opinion. "It can't be that hard, can it? I've seen worse than this!"

"But Tetra wants to set out today after lunch! And on our ship, her word is law!"

The other Link smiled mischievously. "You let a girl tell yourself what to do or not?"

Immediately, Link tried to talk his way out of this one. "OH, you don't know Tetra! Whenever she gets angry, all you can do is pray for your survival!"

"Or… you're just a weenie."

"WHAT?"

"I mean, how should I know, that you really told me the truth? I mean, some pipsqueak like you claims to be my succes- WHOA!"

Link had quickly drawn his sword and slashed it right beside the other one, just barely missing him. "So, you say I'm a weenie?"

"Well, we could fight to see if you're one or not!" The other Link grinned and jumped up and drew his sword as well. "But I won't go easy on you, my boy!" (OH NO NOT THE CD-I LINE D:)

"Stop talking like you're older than me!"

Link slashed his sword towards his opponent, who dodged the hit without problems. "Technically, I am older!"

The next strike came quickly. Link couldn't escape fast enough, but his shield took the hit. "Uh!"

"And you're slo~w! Oh, man! If you want to persuade me of your hero-tales, you'll have to show me a bit more than this!"

"Oh yeah?"

Link quickly slashed his sword up vertically, jumped and tried to hit the opponent from above, but even that was easily deflected by the other boy.

"You're trying to tell me that you finished off good ol' Ganondorf with something like that?! Come on, not even he would sink that deep! … Or, maybe, he was out of training at the time, no wonder when I wasn't around for so long. A whole LOT out of training!"

"Ha, shut up, I'm just getting started!"

Link slashed his sword to the left and then quickly rolled behind the other Link. Once again, he slashed vertically.

"HA!"

"WHOA!"

This time it ended up being surprising to the second Link, due to it coming from behind. He couldn't dodge it anymore. After taking the hit, he quickly got up again, looking rather amazed. "Wow… OK, that was actually pretty good…"

"Ha ha…"

Link proudly crossed his arms, when he heard that… letting his guard down and himself wide open for a few seconds. Enough for the other Link to get behind him quickly and strike with the very same maneuver.

"TAKE THAT!"

"OUCH!"

Link quickly got up again. "Copy cat!"

"You're the one to talk, Mister "My green tunics, and my green hat, and _my_ fighting style!" To make it even more obvious what he was referring to, the boy pointed it out with his finger.

Link was not amused. "HEY! I'm not cop—I mean-- That's just…. I'm just… Ummmm… HIAAA!"

Lacking any arguments against this one (Well, his clothes are based on that of the hero after all), Link just got on with the fight – and his strike was, once again, countered quickly.

Immediately, both of them tried to strike with a regular slash, but they just ended up hitting each other's blade and being thrown back by the tiny resulting impact.

Trying to finally end it, he prepared for a spinning-slash, but his opponent, knowing the move exactly, realized this and did the same. Once again, they both only hit each other's weapon.

However, this time the impact was quite stronger and both of them were thrown to the ground before they could realize what happened.

They tried to jump up again, but… sunk into their knees again immediately and fell into the grass.

And they stayed like this, for a few moments. They took a few breaths…

"You… are… not bad! …Actually, you're really good!" admitted the other boy. "But… with the Master Sword, I would have bet you!"

"It would have been easier for me with it as well," laughed Link. He turned towards the other boy and reached his hand out to him. "Draw?"

The other Link took his hand. He smiled. "Okay. Draw!"

Still on the ground, they shock each other's hands.

"Say… how did you get the idea for the spinning slash in the first place?" asked the second Link, interested.

Link just shrugged. "I don't know. It just… came to me, once I started to get a bit more skilled."

"So...weird… Is that a coincidence?"

"Hm…"

Linked grinned. "Maybe some divine revelation?"

"Well, that would be pretty cool!"

The boys laughed.

A new voice reached them. "Oi! Link!"

"Huh?"

As Link heard the familiar sound, he turned around and saw Aryll skipping down the field…

"AH! My sister!"

"Your sister?"

"Quickly! If she sees you, she'll-"

Too late. Aryll was already there.

She had stopped skipping rather abruptly, when she realized that her brother wasn't alone…

And now she was looking at the two, very similar looking boys with big, confused eyes.

"Big Brother? Who… is this?" She seemed completely confused.

And somehow, Link knew that it wouldn't be easy to explain his little kid sister what had happened.


	5. The Blue Light

Chapter 4:

The blue light

"Link…?"

His little sister stared at the two of them confused, maybe even slightly scared.

"Aryll…"

Link stood up from the grass:

"I..Uhm… how to explain that…"

"Malon?"

This came from the second Link, who had stood up and taken a closer look at the confused little girl.

"Ma…lon?", asked him Link, without understanding what this was supposed to mean.

"No… her hair is completely different… But she _is_ got the same face!"

"Oh… Well, I am Aryll! Hee Hee…"

Suddenly the smile reappeared on Aryll's face. She looked at her brother:

"Link, who's that boy? Is it his twelvth birthday? He wears the same clothes as you!"

"Uhmm…"

How to explain _that_ to an eight years old?

"Look… Aryll… this guy… happens to be someone, who's also called "Link"!"

This was probably the best thing to say right now.

"Wow, you share my big brother's name?"

The other Link nodded:

"Yes, I'm a "Link" too!"

"Big brother, I never knew your name was so popular!"

"Well…"

"Hey, other Link, do you also know some other girl's called "Aryll"?"

Her eyes lit up in expectation.

"Uhm, I do know a lot of girls, but an "Aryll"? No, I don't think so…"

"Oh! That's a pity!"

Aryll still smiled.

Finally, Link asked her:

"Say, Aryll… what are you doing out here so soon in the morning? Weren't you asleep?"

She shook her head:

"The noise in your room woke me up. It sounded, like you were talking to yourself. We though, you were sleepwalking or something."

"I wasn't talking to myself…", mumbled Link.

"So our voices sound similar as well?", asked the other one surprised.

Aryll took a short moment to think:

"Hm… Yes, a little bit! But yours is a tiny bit deeper, "other Link"!"

"Ha!"

For some reason, the second Link seemed very proud about that statement:

"Did you hear? My voice's deeper!"

"Yeah. Did you win something now?"

Aryll laughed:

"Link, you should go home again too! Grandmother is surely still worried about you and you should also introduce your new friend to her, shouldn't you?"

"Ah, yeah, you're probably right, Aryll."

"Hee Hee!"

Aryll turned around and ran back to the house.

That was, when the second Link asked:

"By the way, how are you going to explain me to your people?"

"I have no idea.", whispered Link in quite a clueless manner.

"Li~nk! Come o~n!"

That was Aryll. She was eagerly waiting for Link to come after her.

Link just shrugged:

"Ah, I'll figure some explanation out when they ask. Come on, let's go!"

"OK."

Link finally followed after Aryll, who had already continued her way. Meanwhile, the second Link wanted to follow as well..

When he heard a sound.

"Huh?"

He turned his head around. He heard a kind of bell just now, he was sure.

So he took a look around and…

Again. He looked up:

"That's… That must be a…!"

Finally, he spotted a faint, blue light in a few meters distance. A familiar kind of light…

"That… could that be… HEY! Wait for me!"

Without any further thinking, he followed the light, as is flew up the hill.

Link was just about to enter the house, when he noticed, that something seemed to be missing. It didn't take him long to realize that he was suddenly missing the company of the other blond kid in the tunics. He then spotted him wandering off into the fairy's forests.

"Hey! What the heck is he doing?!

Link hesitated a moment – he really didn't want to make his grandma any more worried- but this had priority right now.

"If we were right about what happened before, he'll die if he just runs of like this! I gotta stop him!"

He dashed through the grass, but the hill to the fairy's forest.

-

Running.

Most of the Kokiri's games involved running. Running to get away, running to catch someone or something, running to be faster than the others. And since much of the Kokiri's everyday life consisted of playing games they were naturally good runners. Quick and flexible and they had a perfect grip.

If there was one skill you needed to catch an escaping fairy, it was running. Really fast running.

A Fairy…

This Link was sure, that what he saw must have been a fairy. He had been around fairies as long as he could remember and this light was defiantly the light of a fairy, just like those bell-like sounds had to belong to one.

Only the wings of fairies sounded like this.

Fairies never aged, just like the real Kokiri. A fairy couldn't die from old age, actually it was even quite possible for them to live forever.

//Maybe_ that's _why I ended up here!//, he thought by himself //Because of her…//

The small light suddenly took a sharp turn and disappeared behind the threes.

"Wait!"

He followed as quickly as he could.

Those forests… they closely resembled the ones he was used to. The plants and bugs and atmosphere...

Yes, this was just like Hyrule's forests. At least the other boy didn't lie to him.

The light was getting away.

He tried to run faster, but that was when he suddenly felt like losing his energy.

//No! Not again! It's just like before…//

What kind of feeling was this?! Just like… fading.

No! He wanted to keep running! He had to know if this fairy…

But he was so tired… Link couldn't take it anymore. His breathing became flat and without any rhythm.

//Please… Just… a little bit… farther… I got to…//

"AH!"

A Dekubaba broke through the ground before him.

//They're still around?!//

He tried to draw his sword, but he didn't have the power to raise it. His skin was pail as chalk…

"…No…"

He couldn't fight, nor protect himself. He could only close his eyes, as the monster started attacking him.

Now they'd see if he was really just a spirit of some kind—

But the next thing he heard was, how the teeth of the beast clashed with a metal blade.

"HYA!"

"Huh?"

He opened the eyes again.

It was that other boy. He was standing before him, protecting them both from the monster with his shield in one hand, while using his sword with the other.

He then turned around to him:

"What's the big idea, running of like that, huh?"

He reached his hand down to him and helped him up.

Immediately, he felt how his energies returned to him.

Yes, defiantly because of this other boy.

"I'm sorry, but I… UH!"

The Dekubaba snapped for him.

"No time for explaining!", he corrected himself and two more Dekubabas emerged from the ground.

Both of the boys took their swords:

"HA!"

With three clean slashes each, the Dekubabas were no more than simple fire-wood in mere seconds.

Silence returned to the forest.

"Wheew… I'm sure glad this were just some Dekubaba…", sighed Link.

"Lucky, I think I just made it in time, didn't I?... Hey! Are you even listening to me?!"

Link realized, that the other boy was just looking around nervously.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"It's… gone…", he finally answered.

Link gave him a confused look:

"Gone?"

"The fairy.", explained the other one „The one I was chasing just now! Now I won't find it again!"

"So, let me get this straight, you risked your life… because of some random fairy?!"

"She's not some random fairy!", answered the other angrily.

"Huh? "Her"… Do you know her?"

"YES!- Uhm… No… I mean… I'm not sure…"

He turned his head away:

"I'm not sure if it really was her…"

"Who?"

"Navi…"

He just whispered the name. Link looked into the other ones yes with surprise. Of course he knew that all fairies had names, but he also knew that it was rare for a human to know a fairy's name. The only instance of this he knew of were Ciela and the other 2 spirits, who told him their names right away. Other fairies were usual cautious not to tell their name to any run by stranger they just met.

And… where did he hear this name before?... Navi…

"Who is… uhm… I mean "was" this Navi?", he finally asked.

"My guardian fairy.", answered the other Link "She was my only constant company on my journey and helped me out whenever I was stuck. She was pretty smart and very caring… People always claimed, I was something special because of what I accomplished, even at young age… but the truth is that I would have never even gotten that far without Navi."

Link listened closely. So this Navi had been his partner and advisor.. No, his friend…

"Navi was the reason I left Hyrule in the first place. When I returned home after defeating Ganon, Navi suddenly disappeared. I don't even know, how it happened, she was just gone all of the sudden! I couldn't even say "goodbye" to her before she left. People told me to just forget about her, but I wanted to at least see her once more, so I can ask her why she had to go… but I never saw her again."

Link just nodded. This other boy seemed to be very upset about the sudden disappearance of his fairy. To have a friend, whom you'll never see again… Link knew this feeling. But to not even be able to bid this friend farewell… That was just sad…

So this fairy was the reason, why…

"Oh!"

Suddenly Link realized something:

"I understand! This "Navi" is probably the "Great fairy of truth" from the legend!"

"Huh?"

Link tried to explain:

„Well, some rumors claim, that your leaving of Hyrule had something to do with finding a "Great Fairy of truth" to answer you some question of some sort…"

" "Great fairy of truth"? That's got to be some kind of mistake!", answered the other Link laughingly:

"Navi may be pretty smart and pure, but she's not a "Great Fairy" of any kind and she surely doesn't know the answer to every question!"

Link shrugged:

"Well, it's just a legend after all."

"I probably should tell your people the true story sometime, huh?"

"Hey, that'd be great!", answered Link "That would certainly clear some things up!"

"Hehe… Uhm, wait a minute…"

The other Link's eyes got a peek of the shield, which Link was still holding in his right hand. The other Link looked closer:

"Hey… isn't that… that's one of my old shields!!"

"Huh? This one?"

Link held the shield up.

"Yeah, exactly! It has to be! Look, even the writing I carved in is still there!"

He pointed at a few old symbols on the inside:  
"Where did you get this?!"

"My grandma gave it to me. She claimed that it had been in our family's possession for a pretty long time!"

"… Your family?..."

Link just nodded.

How weird…

How did his family get into the possession of a real shield, owned by the hero of time?

He took a closer look at the carved in-writing…

"What does he say?", he asked curiously.

The former owner of the shield winked:

"I carved my name into it!"

"Haha! So it still fits after all!"

Suddenly, Link felt very proud for this old shield, his grandma had given him…

"Huh! Grandma!"

Link jumped:

"We gotta go back! She's surely worried, because I didn't come home along with Aryll!"

The other boy protested:

"But the fairy I saw went into the forest! We can still find her, if we search!"

Link sighed:

"Look, seriously, along all fairies in this whole, wide world, how are the chances that this one actually was yours?"

"I know!", he answered "But I just want to check! Just to be sure!"

"We'll look for her later, OK?"

"But I thought your "charming" princess is setting sails at noon?"

"Don't call her princess.", Link said "She hates it. Besides, maybe I can persuade her to stay a little while longer! There's no harm in trying."

"Uhh… OK, I give up..", the other Link sighed.

"It's not exactly like I had a choice anyway. I have to where you go, or I'll---"

"I'm sorry…"

"Hey, no sweat! I can take it!"

The boy winked:

"But you're right. We should get back to your grandma. I don't want to give the poor old lady to have a heart-attack because of us!"

Link smiled:

"Thanks."

Hand in Hand, they went back the path they came…


	6. She's Zelda?

Chapter 5:

She's Zelda?!

"Link!

LIIIINK!"

Tetra ran around. She was boiling with rage and kicked a stone out of her way.

"OK, it's no surprise, that he's trying to delay us setting sails. But I really wouldn't have thought, that he'd seriously just trick his own sister like this!"

Aryll ran to her:

"But there really was another Link with him! He had similar clothes, a similar voice and he even looked similar!"

"I thought it was some sort of tradition around here to wear a green tunic on the twelfth birthday, huh?"

"Yes, but…"

"Then, couldn't that just have been some random guy, who pulled out the old clothes, so he and Link can pull a little prank on you and everyone else?"

Aryll stomped her little feet into the ground:

"No,no,no!! Link is not pulling pranks on people! He never did! And when he tells me, that the other boy shares his name, I believe him!"

"OK, OK, don't freak out…"

Tetra sighed.

She shouted out to her crew:

"Any sign of him yet?"

"He's not in the village, Miss Tetra!!"

"Search in the forest, on the hill!!", she answered.

Tetra was a bit confused by all of this.

Because, actually, Aryll was right. Link was not the kind of guy, who'd be pulling stupid pranks on his little sister or anyone else, for that matter. But another boy, sharing his silly name?

Tetra just had one kind of explanation for this:

Link was trying to pretend, that he actually managed to summon the spirit of the hero of time. There was just no other reason, why he'd be acting like that.

"Link"… That wasn't just a normal name. The word „Link" was supposed to stand for „linked to the gods" or "A Link to the gods". It had been like this for ages and only a few people ever had this name. Or at least, it was not the kind of name you'd expect some run-by child to have.

Coincidentally, all the known people in history who were mentioned by this name also happened to be heroes of some sort. And her Link wasn't exactly an exception; she had to give him that.

Yeah, Tetra knew a lot about the history of the ancient Hyrule. That was because her mother had tought her a lot about it. She knew how to decipher the old scripts and the meaning of diverse symbols, like the three goddesses' seals. Or the meaning of the song, she liked so much. It was a ceremonial song, which was often used in celebrations, honoring the Princesses Zelda. "Princesses", because every hyrulean Princess had been called by this name. It was a tradition to honor the legendary "Sleeping Princess"…

Ah, were did her thought venture off to now? The point was, that she heard link conducting this song with his baton the day before. If he was now really trying to trick people into thinking that there were two of him all of the sudden, he was either:

a)Showing of his "resemblance" to the legendary hero

b)Trying to pretend this to himself.

It was more than weird enough that he had this strange name and it was more than unlikely that anyone else on this small island shared it with him.

"AHH--- Once I lay hands onto him, he'll regret the day he was born! He knows that we have a timetable to follo—huh?"

Tetra suddenly realized, that something was shining on her right hand. She held it up, before her face:

The triforce's mark….

"What the…"

She starred at the triangular symbol in disbelieve.

"But… But how? The triforce was destroyed! Gone! How…

"MISS TETRA! GOT' IM!"

Tetra turned around and looked up the small path that led up the hill. One of her crew, Gonzo, was running towards her and along with him, he was dragging…

Something green.

Tetra sighed. The forest.

She should have known it.

Gonzo shouted:  
"He's been strugglin' an' stuff, but I just grabbed 'im and…"

"Gonzo, Link's NOT a hostage.", Tetra answered.

"Ah?"

"Let him go."

"Ah… OK."

Gonzo just threw his prisoner to Tetra…

Or, more accurately:

His Prisoners.

"Ah?!"

Tetra was quite surprised:

Gonzo brought TWO boys in green tunics with him. One was Link… the other one looked a DARN lot like him.

"See? I told you there were two of them!", said Aryll quickly.

Gonzo started explaining:

"Well, Miss Tetra, I wasn't sure if you meant both of' 'em or just 'im, so I took…"

"I get it, Gonzo", she interrupted him.

She looked down:

"Link?!"

Link, who was still rubbing the back off his head because of the pain caused by the throw, looked up:

"Uhm… Hi, Tetra! Ha… Ha…"

„That's real, isn't it?"

She rubbed her eyes, just to be sure, but it was no use:

The second green-clad boy didn't disappear.

Said boy took a close look at her as well:

"Wait… Zelda?"

Tetra didn't answer this at all, but turned to her Link in confusion:

"Link… Who… is… THAT?!"

„Uhm… long, long story…"

„Well, then start TELLING!"

Link and his look-alike both got up from the ground.

Link took a deep breath:

"Well… Tetra, this here is Link, the hero of time. I guess I… kind of… accidently… "summoned" him, yesterday evening…he he…"

"Accidently?!", Tetra hissed at him "You call bringing someone, who claims to be a thousand years old legendary hero here an "accident"?! Link, you…"

She got interrupted by the big, curiously starring eyes and the voice of the other boy:

"So… you're Zelda now?"

He was looking at the pirate-princess in disbelieve.

Tetra stopped scolding "her" Link and turned at the other one:

"Uhm, yes? Do you have some kind of problem with that?"

"You are… Zelda…"

"Yeah, we already got that far."

"Zelda…"

If this fanfiction was sci-fi and the characters were robots, this one would now have output the message "THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE" and would have self-destructed in result of a "Major-Runtime-Error".

But this is no sci-fi story, so he just kept starring at the pirate-girl before him and shock his head:

"But… But… Zelda is… Zelda was… Zelda… She's… That is…"

Princess "Zelda" Tetra just rolled her eyes:

"Another one. Great."

Suddenly, the other Link could talk in whole sentences again:

"How, by all cuccos in Kakariko, can THIS be Zelda?! Zelda was polite, caring, sweet and would never ever---

Oh."

" "Oh", what?", asked Link(H. o. Winds)

"Sheik…", answered Link(H. o. Time)

"Sheik?"

"Ah, forget it…", he said "OK… so you are Zelda…"

Tetra shrugged:

"Yeah, looks like it. And now…"

She grabbed one of „her" Link's ears and pulled him toward her.

"OUTCH!"

"Would you please excuse us for a minute? See it as a royal command or something.."

"Uhm… OK…"

While the other Link took a few steps back, Tetra pulled the first one towards herself:

"OK… what is the great hero of winds planning to do now?!"

"Outch…", he freed himself from Tetra's grip „About what?"

"About THIS!"

She pointed at the other boy:

"Or are you seriously thinking, it would be a good thing to have HIM running around here like this?!"

"He's not hurting anyone!"

"I'm not talking about him hurting people, I'm talking about magic! I've made some experiences with curses and the like yet and I can tell you: That he came here can't mean anything good! Where ever you got him from, bring him back!"

"Ha Ha, as if I would know how!", answered Link. "And I really can't see, how this is supposed to be a bad thing! He's the legendary hero! He could tell us everything about the ancient kingdom that we don't know yet! He has traveled all of Hyrule, so if there's anyone who knows a place that might not be flooded yet, it's him!"

"Link, this guy doesn't belong here! To be exact, he shouldn't even be alive anymore! How are we supposed to know, that he's really who he claims to be for sure?!"

"He's got a Triforce-mark on his left hand, Tetra!", was Link's argument "Just like me!"

"But don't you remember, Link?!", Tetra answered to this.

"Remember what?"

"Remember what happened to the Triforce, when we last saw it! It dissappeared, Link! And the marks were gone afterwards!"

„Oh, hey… that's right…"

Just now, Link noticed that this was indeed pretty strange… he hadn't seen the mark on his hand glowing ever since they defeated Ganondorf. To be exact, it seemed to have faded away afterwards… so why was the mark back now?

Tetra kept explaining her worries about this:

"My mark reappeared as well, just a few minutes ago! And I'm sure, that's not a good sign."

"Why?"

"Because we _flooded_ the place where we last saw the Triforce. We flooded it along with **Ganondorf**. If the Triforce returned… He probably did as well."

A shock seemed to hit Link, when Tetra said this.

Ganondorf.

He… He didn't think about that at all. About the possibility of this man retur-

No. Ganondorf could not have survived. Link stabbed him. Link killed him. Link saw him turning into stone. Link saw, how his head became the new resting-place of the master sword.

He could not have survived this!

…However…

"Your song…Grandma said, that the song is said to revive the memories and spirits of ancient times in that night…", Link thought aloud.

"Exactly."

Tetra glared at Link with an icy look:

"And what's the one thing worse than an old, cranky Ganondorf, trying to kill us and take over our world? A young, athletic Ganondorf, trying to kill us and take over our world! Congratulations, my hero!"

"He… He's not back!", Link stated… less firmly, than he inteded to. "I would habe noticed!... Somehow…"

"Just like you noticed that your mark had been gone for about 6 months? Wow, I feel so relieved now!"

Sarcasm. One of the things that made Link wish, Tetra had a "mute"-button. If she had been just scolding him for stupid statements or actions once in a while, he could take it. What he couldn't take was her pointing the stupidity in his statements or actions out like this. Even if she was right, she didn't have to hammer it into him like this…

"Well, what does your majesty suppose we should do now?", he finally snarled back "Play the song backwards, maybe, hoping that it doesn't cause even more stuff like this to happen? We don't know how to undo this!"

"But you HAVE to do something", Tetra stated. "And that's defiantly NOT wandering off into the forest without anyone knowing!"

"I had no choice!", Link tried to defend himself. He then pointed at the other boy, who was still sitting at the sideline, waiting patiently, maybe a bit bored.

"He's the one who just ran off!"

"And it would not have been a better idea to tell everybody, so we could all go search for him, because…?"

"Because he would have been dead until then!"

He paused a moment:

"Or… deader…"

"Ha!", Tetra laughed for a second. "OK, now you are getting ridiculous. That hill is a children's play-forest, not the inside of dragon-roost Mountain! If he really IS who he claims to be, going up there should be boring to him, not threatening!"

"That's not what I was talking about!"

Link tried to stay calm, but she made it really, really hard for him. With his voice already being roughly an octave higher than normal, he tried to explain:

"He's… whenever I'm going away… ARGH! Somehow, he can't leave my side! A few meters and he starts fading away!"

"Fading? What?"

Tetra threw a skeptical look at Link, when she heard that words. She refused to take this seriously. When she, however, saw his serious face, her skepticism lost it's power…

"You… You really mean it?"

Link nodded:

"Yes. I don't know why, but it could have something to do with me being the one who conducted that song!"

"Link, I doubt that this is the cause.", she answered. "I've been singing that song. Every single evening. And I never ever found a thousand years old princess Zelda in my bedroom the morning after. Including today!"

"But I used my baton!", Link argued „It's a sacred item so… maybe that triggered something!"

"Oh, yeah… talking about sacred items…"

Tetra turned her head around, making a gesture towards the other boy in green, who had started playing with Aryll in the meantime. Just now, he was playing a song to the little girl…

On a sapphire blue ocarina.

Aryll giggled:

"Ah! That sounds so nice! Do you know any more songs?"

And the boy winked at her:

"Of course I do! Listen to this!"

He started playing another song and Aryll laughed happily.

"Wow… He's good with that ocarina…", Link said. „I can't hear a single flaw in his playing…"

He wasn't just saying this. Link was truly amazed about how well this other boy could play his instrument… he knew quite a bit about music now, enough at least to know that it was not easy to play an instrument like this… No, not a single flaw, every sound and every not were clear and harmonic with the others…

"He's using the ocarina of time.", Tetra suddenly stated.

Link turned at her:

"Huh? The one from the legend? The real thing?"

Tetra pointed her finger at the instrument:

"Can you see the crest on the mouth-piece? That's a Triforce-symbol. Either this is the Ocarina of time, or the ocarina-makers of the old Hyrule had so much time on their hands, that they randomly engraved sacred symbols on a tiny scaled on fragile instruments, just to kill time. Unlikely, huh?"

Link quietly listened to the sound of the sapphire-blue ocarina… It indeed had something "Magical" to it…

"This Ocarina…"

That was, when he remembered something… in his dream… The dream he had the night before…

There had been an ocarina on it, right?

An Ocarina… and a green-haired girl, playing it…

"Hm…"

He slowly moved his head down and closed his eyes:

"I wonder, if there is a connection…"

---

„It started in… the Kokiri forest."

"Was that in Hyrule?"

"On the edge of Hyrule."

Link listened closely.

They were going to hear the true story now, no passed down legend…

What really happened.

It had been a long time, since he was last that excited about finding something out.

So he closely listened… along his friends and family… to the other boy's story, while the campfire's faint sounds added to the atmosphere.

_'We'll embark tomorrow morning'_

That's what Tetra said… Why did she change her opinion about leaving today?

Ah, it didn't matter… All that mattered now was the other boy's story.

"Kokiri Forest… That was the place, where I grew up. I lived among the Kokiri..."

"Kokiri…", Link quietly repeated to himself. He knew that word… who did him tell about that again? He couldn't quite remember…

"What's a Kokiri?", Aryll asked out of curiosity.

"Uhm… The Kokiri are… or were… children of the forests. We lived in the forest and with forest, save and without much worries… Until Gohma came."

"Gohma… that's a spider-demon, isn't it?", asked one of the other children.

"Yes. And it was a Gohma, who killed the great Deku Tree. The Great Deku Tree is the spirit, who protected our forests. I tried to help, but I couldn't do much. When I killed Gohma, the Deku Tree was already dying. The last thing he did, was telling me to leave the forest and search for the princess of Hyrule. I was bit scared… No Kokiri ever left the forest before. I didn't know what was waiting for me out there. But at least, I didn't have to go alone. Navi was with me. And Saria… Saria had always been my best friend… She gave me an Ocarina, so I could remember the forests every time I play it."

That was, when Tetra listened up:

"…The Ocarina of Time?", she asked.

"No. A fairy Ocarina. Saria made it herself. It was the one, she used to play before I left… That's why it meant a lot to me, when she actually gave it to me… Ah…

Anyway… I somehow found my way through Hyrule and managed to sneak into the castle… the guards were pretty dull, by the way… and then, I met Zelda."

"Was she pretty?", Aryll asked.

"Very, very pretty! She had deep, blue eyes, gold-blonde hair and really pale skin… She looked a bit like a fragile doll…"

A… fragile doll?

Link tried to picture Tetra like this… first, he thought this could never possibly work… but then, all of the sudden, he had the picture before his eyes… not just Tetra in her royal regalia and without her tan… what he saw in his mind now was exactly what the other boy described princess Zelda to be like… But… the longer he saw this picture, the more he suddenly started to have a feeling that it was familiar… like he had seen it before… Just were?

"…well, she wasn't that fragile in the end. It was her idea to take care of Ganondorf, after all."

"How?"

"Well, Zelda knew that Ganondorf was after the Triforce, but nobody, except me, seemed to believe her, not even her father. So she made a plan: She got the Ocarina of time and I collected the 3 spiritual stones, which one needed to open the door to the sacred realm, where the Triforce was supposed to be. We wanted to take the Triforce to ourselves, so Ganondorf couldn't steal it anymore… but our plan had one crucial flaw…"

"What flaw?", asked Link excited.

"The flaw that Ganondorf apparently KNEW about it. First, he tried to kidnap Zelda and when I tried to go through with the plan by myself afterwards, he followed me secretly. I faintly remember him laughing, when I entered the chamber… the next thing I know is waking up in front of Rauru, sage of light. Seven years later.

"7 years?!", Link shouted… „B-But you would be 19 years old then!"

„I WAS 19 years old.", explained the other boy „I… I suddenly had the body of an adult and no idea how to cope with that. Without Navi's help… I don't think I would have come far without her. I would have probably snapped out, it was just so weird… and half Hyrule was destroyed, just to add to the shock. I then tried to contact Saria, because I was worried… and got a cry for help. And that wouldn't stay the only cry for help I'd get…

Hyrule… A lot of things happened, while I was gone…"

He sighed sadly.

"I had to search and gather the 6 sages of the sacred realm and received some help from a stranger who called himself "Sheik". I lifted the curses of the 6 temples and "awakened" the sages: Rauru, Saria, Impa, Ruto, Darunia, Nabooru. That's all of them. The only one who was still missing then, was princess Zelda herself. And that was when Sheik ended the charade. "

"And… let me guess… Sheik was princess Zelda?"

OK. For once, Link knew why this seemed familiar to him. He threw a short look at Tetra and went back to listening to the other boy's words.

"Yes, exactly. However, Ganondorf, apparently, was a step ahead of us and captured Zelda before I could even say "Hi!". Then, we fought. Me versus Ganondorf. We almost got him, when his triforce piece suddenly activated and he became a rampaging monster. This was more than just intense… For a moment, I thought I was not gonna make it, but Navi and Zelda both helped and cheered for me. And I actually did it. I finished him off and the sage could banish him into the sacred realm. Zelda then sent me back into my childhood… She wanted me to regain my lost years. When I got back, I caught Ganondorf, just when he was about to follow me through the gate to the sacred realm. He was imprisoned by the sages then. That's all I know about what happened to him. Afterwards, Hyrule was on peace again…"

Link noticed, that the hero of time didn't sound very happy, when I told them about this… Was he thinking about his fairy, who left him…?

„And… where were you, when Ganondorf returned?", one of the villagers suddenly asked.

Link, Tetra and, especially, the young hero of time froze. That… was a cold question.

But that didn't keep yet another villager from rising up and adding:

"Yeah! Were was the hero of time, when the kingdom fell? Where were you, when your people needed you the most?"

Somehow scared, the boy backed off a bit:

"I… I… I didn't… I don't know, how…"

"JUST LEAVE HIM BE!

Link had jumped up and stepped in between:

"Just what are you doing?! He's not the one to blame for what happened, so why are you talking him down like this?! Everybody, you should be ashamed of yourself! And, by the way, if Hyrule was still there, most of us would probably never have been born! And… And…"

Link looked down at the ground, his hand still balled to a fist:

"…if someone told me that I was a failure, because I didn't manage to bring Hyrule back in the end, like it was intended… I… I'd not know how to argue with that…even though I tried my best…"

Tetra looked up and seemed a bit touched:

"Link…"

"So, just where do you take the right from, to talk like you were the ones who had to suffer from what happened? And would you have been able to do better? Ha?"

Suddenly, silence reigned. Link's angry eyes swept over the people who were talking down the other boy with his name a few minutes ago. They, too, were blissfully silent now.

"Thought so.", Link finished his speech. He then sat down again. And turned around to the other boy:

"Am I not right?"

The young hero of time smiled thankfully:

"Thank you very much!"

"I… I'm sorry…", one of the villagers from before mumbled now. "Excuse me…uhm… Hero of time…"

"Don't worry about it any more.", the boy answered and smiled.

"Hm…"

Link started thinking about something:

"We should do something about the name-issue. "Hero of time" may be an awesome title, but I don't think anyone is gonna get used to calling you that! It's just… weird."

"Ha ha ha…", Tetra leaned back:

„ Need names? „Dull" and „Naive" should do it."

„Can't you be, you know, „friendly" for just 10 seconds, even when you're not in life-threatening danger?", Link asked quite annoyed.

"Don't see the fun in that", Tetra replied with a smile on her lips. She closed her eyes and sung:

"Tchidyuney nyo toki nyae kaze nyo tsyunbyaza tie tiohnbudiey, tiohnbudiey…"

"Hey, that's a pretty old dialect!", the other boy suddenly exclaimed to Link's surprise, who didn't understand a word.

The boy started to repeat the melody, but with understandable words:

"In times I feel trapped, I want to fly, want to fly, on the wind's wings…"

"Ha Ha…"

Tetra winked:

"Congratulations, you just proved that you're story was true."

"Huh?"

Tetra stood up and winked at the boy:

"That's an old Hylian song, my mother thought me. I just wanted to see if you could understand it."

"This was old hylian language?", Link asked…. Suddenly, he got an idea:

"So… what would be just "Time" and "Wind" then in old Hylian?"

"That would be "Toki" and "Kaze" respectively.", the other boy answered:

"Wait… Time… Wind… you don't mean… "

He looked at Link, who seemed to understand and nodded:

"The name-issue. Exactly."

"Woh, woh, woh, hold it, Link.", Tetra gave him a weird look:

"You want to use Hylian words for Nicknames? Seriously? Come one, you can't have possibly sunken THAT low!"

"No, no, I like the idea!"

The other Link rose from his seat.

"Using Hylian words as nicknames is way shorter than calling each other by our titles, isn't it? And, to be honest, I really can't get used to calling someone else my name either!"

"My thoughts exactly.", Link stated with a nod. "So… from now on, we'll call each other this… Right, Toki?"

"Toki" grinned. He went straight up to him and gave him his hand:

"Alright, "Kaze"."

"Ahh…"

Tetra just sighed.

Heroes of time and wind?

Really, this was just one stubborn kid with weird ideas, multiplied by 2.

---

_Notes:_

_I made up the Hylian language based on what it sounds like when Midna talks in Twilight Princess. The words "Toki" and "Kaze" however are actually Japanese. Don't worry, there won't be any more fangirl-japanese in this fanfiction, except for those nicknames. I was just lacking better solutions for the name-issue. It's not as easy as in "Four Swords", where you can just call them "Red, Blue, Vio(let), Green."_

_Talking about four swords: Yeah, some might have already noticed, but the last sentence in this chapter is actually a quote from the fan-translation of the FourSwords-Plus Manga (Not from the official translation, which changed this line a bit.) The "Original" line was by green Link and went: "Is that really me? It's just like one stubborn guy, multiplied by four!"_

_Oh, and the plot will start to move soon. Keep in mind: This fanfiction is a translation (more accurately: Rewrite) of one of my german Fanfictions, which has almost 50 chapters by now and is still running. The plot will get quite complex around chapter ten, just don't give up. ;-)_


	7. What Heroes dream of

Chapter6:

What heroes dream of.

Yet another night on solid ground…

But they would leave the island tomorrow. Tetra told them to prepare.

Whoever was late, and if it was just by half a minute, would have to scrub the deck for the next 3 months. That's what Tetra said.

Starting tomorrow, they'd travel the seas again.

Even though they still had no clue what was going on right now.

Link… Kaze inspected the back of his hand in the weak light of the candle. The Triforce looked like thin layer of gold on his skin and sparkled in the candle's shine.

The Triforce…

Ganondorf…

No, he couldn't be back. He mustn't be back.

If this man returned just… just because of Kaze's stupid wish, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Everybody worked so hard to ensure the future would be bright. And they were so close… So close to finding the mainland, where they could settle down and life in peace. Where they could build a kingdom that would grow and flourish, just like Hyrule used to do…

They couldn't just lose everything again. Not now, when they were so close…

Link felt, that they were close.

He just felt it.

And prayed, that Tetra's fears wouldn't come true…

A whimpering voice finally interrupted his thoughts.

"Uhh…"

He turned around. And found the other boy… Toki, was sleeping very restlessly. As he didn't stop to roll around on his futon on the floor, tightly squeezing his blanket, Kaze quickly realized that he was the source of the scared sounds…

Was he having a nightmare?

Hm…

Kaze wondered what he might have been dreaming of. He got a small clue, when his room-mate suddenly started to mumble in his sleep:

"Ma-… Majo… N-No… leave them be… stop… the mo-… all the people… I have to… why can't I… they'll… somebody… help… I'm… not going to...I won't ma—s-stop… just…

STOP!"

Toki's upper body catapulted forwards, as his eyes opened quickly. Meanwhile, Kaze was caught off-guard by this sudden and rather unpleasantly awakening of the boy he's just been watching, so he spontaneously jumped and bumped his head in the ceiling as a result.

"Outch!"

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

Toki was completely awake once again:

"I didn't want to scare you… did I wake you up?"

"Nope… I wasn't even asleep yet…"

Kaze rubbed the back of his head, as he told that

"I was too nervous..."

"Yeah, understandable…"

"And you?"

Kaze gave Toki a curious look:

"What were you dreaming of? It seemed like something pretty nasty."

"Uhm…"

He thought about it a few seconds:

"Well… you know… I can't remember anymore already! He He…"

He was lying.

Kaze knew, he was no saying the truth. But if he didn't want him to know about his dream, it was probably for the best to just let him be.

Suddenly, Toki himself asked a question:

"Say…"

"Hm…? Yes?"

„You are living here with your grandma and little sister, correct?"

"Well, at least I did until I started traveling with Tetra and the others, yes."

"And… your parents?"

Kaze hesitated a moment. It took him a few seconds to finally formulate the answer:

"When…

When I was just a little child… and Aryll was just a baby… There was a big crisis. The water from the south-current suddenly carried some kind of toxin. The plants and fish started dying. A food shortage was one of the first results. And a lot of fishermen left the archipelago, because they abandoned any hope for the water to return back to normal.

A group of people gathered on Windfall Island and set out to find and get rid the source of the toxin. Mama and Papa were among them. A few days after, the water suddenly returned to normal… But no one of those people ever returned. None…"

He looked up:

"I can only guess how they stopped the toxin, but it saved all of us. My parents… all those people died to save everyone else…

I can't even remember anymore, what my parents actually looked like, but I do remember that the one who owned the ship that group used to get up the poisoned stream was actually a pirate captain… a woman , I think… But I didn't give it to much thought…until…

Until years later I met Tetra, who was an orphan as well…"

He stopped a few seconds:

"I never talked to her about that, but I'm pretty sure that this woman was her mother. She was orphaned the same way as me… I don't why I'm so sure, but I just don't think that this is a coincidence…"

He looked at Toki:

"Or am I just giving this too much thought?"

"No, I don't think so, really!", ansered Toki, while shaking his head:

"Sorry that I asked you something like that, but… you know, I never knew my parents."

"Really?!"

He nodded:

"I thought I was a Kokiri, until I found myself as an adult after the seven years of sleep. Kokiri don't age, that's how I realized that I'm Hylian… Then I was told, that my mother died when she tried to save me from getting into Ganondorfs hands. She could hide me in Kokiri forest, but… she was already wounded so badly, that…"

"Ganondorf…", Kaze whispered in disgust "This horrible bastard…"

"Now he'll never be able to hurt people like that again…"

"Yeah… I hope so…"  
Kaze took a glance at his Triforce:

"But… what if I actually failed? What if he survived somehow and is… coming back?"

"You didn't fail!"

"Huh?"

Toki smiled:

"You can't have failed, because there's no such thing as "failing". If something didn't work out right away, just keep trying and trying and working harder and harder, until you reach the goal! You only fail if give up retrying!"

The upset frown disappeared from Kaze's face:

"You're right! Never stop trying, as long as you can! Hm…"

He suddenly thought… should he ask… or not…?

"Say…"

"Hm?"

"Well… Now that you asked me something, it's my turn to ask you a question, isn't it?"

"Uhm… yeah, I guess so! Ha ha. OK, what's it?"  
„Ok… do you sometimes have… „special dreams".", he asked "You know… the kind of dreams that is trying to tell you something important, but you can never quite put your finger on it, until you see it in real life?"

Toki nodded:

"When I wasn't even aware, what the world outside the forest looked like, I often dreamt of a girl. Of Zelda."

"…"

"Did you have this kind of dreams of your princess as well?"

Kaze had to think a moment about this statement.

He had never been good about recalling his own dreams. Actually, he had always been completely incapable of doing so. Once he woke up, his memories was always almost completely wiped clear of everything he dreamt. He remembered some words and single pictures, if he was lucky. He even once tried to keep a dream-record, just to change this, but this ambition failed due to him being unable to write anything down.

Because he was never able to recall anything.

So, even if he dreamt of Tetra from time to time, he wouldn't be able to tell.

Yet, he felt some familiarity when he first saw her…

But now, all of the sudden, his dreams have been getting clearer in the past days. Why was that? He guessed that he should be happy about this, but those dreams had a meaning and he knew it…

Even he, as inexperienced he was with dreams, could tell that this HAD to have some kind of meaning to it…

"… And… did you ever have dreams, in which you were… someone else?", he asked „I mean, like you were in another persons body."

"Hm… No, I don't think so."

"Oh…"

"But I do have dreams about—"

Toki stopped abruptly.

"Uhm--- Not important…

But, yesterday morning, when I woke up here, I… I felt like I had been dreaming… for a very long time."

"Dreaming of what?"

"…I don't remember… Really…"

"Oh… OK."

It seemed like Toki didn't want to talk about the dreams- or, rather, nightmares, he was having…

Just what had he been dreaming of?

Link(Kaze) knew that he shouldn't be so curious about as personal things as this, but, for some reason, he was immensely interested in just about what could scare a legendary hero as much as this-

Or… was he having those nightmares, _because _he was a hero in the first place?

After all, Link had no idea what the other boys had really been through. He might have told them his story… but he probably left a few things out, which he didn't want to remind himself on.

Maybe the famous hero of time was… frightened.

The thought crossed little Link's mind just for a moment… It seemed so weird.

The hero of time was someone… iconic to his people. Link always knew of his legend and always knew that what he himself accomplished was not to different from what the legendary hero did, but he never ever thought of this hero as a person like you and me. He always had a certain, mystical image in his head when thinking about this person…

But now, that this person was here, right in front of him…

He was just a boy after all. Like him.

Just a child after all. Like him.

And… what this child must have been through by now…

…

Kaze at least still had his friends. He still had Tetra and Aryll and Grandma and the pirates…

The other Link, Toki, however… he was all alone. He lost his fairy, he had to leave Zelda behind and now he was stranded here, in this future, where he knew nothing and nobody.

This seemed so…sad…

Just why did the legends always forget to mention one little, important detail?

A very important detail.

No matter what he or the other boy accomplished. No matter how many monsters they fought and how many riddles they solved…

No matter how many times they proved themselves to be worthy heroes…

They were children.

Yeah… even if it was hard for him to admit it to himself, he was still a child after all.

Just like the other boy.

They still had all of their lives before them… why did he, and this other boy and Tetra and even the ancient Princess Zelda have to go through all of this? Was it really supposed to be that way? Was this… "right"?

It didn't seem right to Kaze…

Of course, he would never want to miss out all those memories. The friend he met and places he visited. Tetra and the pirates… Medli, Komali and the Rito…Makar and the Koroks… Ciela and the other spirits, as well as Linebeck…

He was glad that he met them.

But there were also lots of thing's he'd rather have never seen.

He had killed.

And even if where Ganon and his followers, he killed them . Their blood was on his fingers.

Even though he was just a child.

He even had to fight Linebeck. Even though the poor man was possessed… Link had to attack him. At the risk of possibly hurting or killing him.

Link gulped.

No, the legends never told stuff like this.

And if he already felt like this… what did it have to be like for the legendary hero, who slaughtered legions of monsters and actually did save the kingdom?

Now that Link thought about it, he didn't wonder anymore why this person had nightmares.

And, as if this wasn't enough already, now he was alone as well…

All alone…

…

This was when Kaze made a decision:

"So… you think your fairy might still be alive somewhere?"

Toki nodded:

"Fairies don't die naturally, they can live forever, if they are not killed… and I just don't believe anybody had a reason to kill her… she was completely harmless, really…"

Kaze jumped up from his bed:  
"Well, what are we waiting for then?"

"Hm?"

He winked at Toki:  
„We do have to board the ship in the morning, but we've still got plenty of time till sunrise! And neither of us is really in the mood to sleep now, right?"

The other boy looked at him in surprise for a short moment, before he smiled and laughed a little bit:

"Right."

"Well, let's go! We're searching your fairy in the forest!"

„You really mean it?!"

„Of course!"

Kaze quickly grabbed his cap and pulled it over his hair:

"But we've got to hurry. If Tetra finds out, she's gonna kill me! She hates it, when her crew-members wander off without telling her! Especially at night…"

"OK, no problem! We'll be back before she even has a chance to notice!

The boys nodded at each other, took their equipment from the room's corner and snuck out of the house as stealthy as they could, so that neither Aryll, nor Grandma would wake up. Then, they quickly ran up the hill, entering the fairy's forest on the top of the island…

Yet they had no idea, what was waiting for them in this forest.

_Notes: _

_Well, it was about time, that I update huh?_

_I really hope the grammar is alright in this chapter. I have the strong suspicion, that I messed up the tenses at some parts.-.- But I don't dare to send this chapter to my beta, after all this time of absence. If the grammar is really THAT horrible, please tell me. That's when I will contact her again, but right now, I simply don't have the guts to. Yeah, weird, I know._

_Are the nicknames annoying you? I hope they don't… they were the only passable way to work around the problem of having two similar characters with the same name. The german audience was fine with them, but, you never know…_

_When I first started the story (a 2/3 year ago), I thought it was gonna be a lighthearted in-universe crossover… it's not anymore. The german version (which is on chapter 59 right now) has grown so dark and serious now, that I'm actually thinking about rising the rating...  
_

_So… anyone else hyped up because of Spirit Tracks? This game seems to be what continuity-freaks like me just have been waiting for._

_And, seriously, Zelda finally actually getting involved in battle, not to speak of the fact that she's a Phantom-possessing spirit? Gimme, Gimme!!! _


	8. The Nightly Forest

Chapter 7:

The nightly forest

Tetra was rolling around on her bed, caught in restless dreams. Even though she was sleeping, she could clearly feel something overcoming her… something from inside. Something that had been sleeping for at least an eternity.

Even though she usually had a calm sleep and barely any bad dreams, the nightmares now took over all of her consciousness and made impossible for her to lie still…

"L-Link…"

-~-

„Great job, you genius, now we got ourselves lost!!"

Link (Kaze) kicked a stone against the nearest tree in rage, causing some sleeping birds in it to scream in shock. He then proceeded to glare angrily at Toki:

" "We should leave the beaten path.", you say! "Fairies never hide where there are many people.", you say!"

"We're not lost!", Toki claimed defensive "A Kokiri never ever gets lost in the forest!".

"You're not a Kokiri."

"I used be."

Cue Face-palm by Kaze:

"OK, "Great Kokiri", then, if we're not lost, tell me, where the heck are we?!"

"Uhm…" all of the sudden, Toki's voice sounded a whole lot less confident: "…In… the forest?"

"Wow, I couldn't tell _that _at all, with all those trees around!", Kaze returned in a mocking manner.

Toki had no way of denying any longer:

"OK, OK, it's true, we got lost! Happy?"

"NO! And you know why? Because Tetra is going to STRANGLE me, if we don't get back by the time the sun rises! And I tell you, that's not gonna be a pretty sight!"

He just couldn't calm down anymore.

"And I said "Let's just follow the signs, they lead to the fairy's spring", but NO, Mr. "Kokiri-Master-of-all-boy-scouts" just HAS to take the complicated route! Because everything else doesn't fit his awesomeness!"

"Hey, I just said "Let's take a short-cut" and you never mentioned that there was no short-cut!! This is YOUR island, you should know the way by heart!!"

"But I don't!!"

"But you grew up here! How can one grow up near a forest and don't know the way out of it?!"

"You know what?! It's no wonder that your fairy ditched you! I wouldn't want to play babysitter for you all the time either!"

"I'm not the one here, who's afraid of a GIRL!!"

"At least I still GOT a girl!!"

"OK, that DOES it!!"

Toki threw himself at Kaze and that's where the stupid and unbelievably childish scuffle started. Complete with hair- and ear-pulling, boxing each others face and trying and kicking around without having a certain direction in mind.

This pathetic excuse for a boy-fight ended with both of them sitting on the ground, wheezing and exhausted.

"Huh…hu…hu…."

Kaze breathed heavily:

"Could it be… that we kinda… overdid it…?"

"Yeah… we… acted like a pair of five-year olds, fighting over some toy… We're most likely just a bit tired… it's late and all… yeah…"

They both took some deep breaths, before Kaze turned away his head and whispered:

"Hey…What I said about … I'm… I'm sorry. That was just completely stupid. I'm not usually like this, really…"

"I wasn't much better…", Toki sighed "I haven't been behaving as silly as this, ever since I got into my very last fight with Mido… Ah, it doesn't matter, you were right. I shouldn't have just lead us of the path without any considera—"

Kaze reached his hand out to him:

"Peace?"

Toki nodded and took his hand:

"Peace!"

They helped each other getting up and then cleaned their tunics from the dirt.

"Well… and now?", Toki asked clueless.

Kaze looked around:

"Hmm… Ah! Hey, over there! Can you see that?"

Toki turned his head into the direction Kaze was pointing and saw was he was talking about:

A pink glow lit up behind one of the trees in the distance.

"That's a fairy!", he realized.

Kaze nodded:

"Yeah, and where there are fairies, the fairy-spring is not far! He he! Follow me!"

They ran into the direction the glowing had been coming from, carefully examining everything they saw in their way.

They started hearing silent voices giggeling and the ringing sound of fairy's wings reached their ears.

"We're getting closer!"

"Look! The path!"

Kaze overtook Toki and stopped at the beaten path:

"It's gotta be close! The fairy's spring is just at the end of this path!"

"Alright!"

Toki followed Kaze.

They wanted to proceed to follow the path, but suddenly, a blue light passed by them with an amazing speed, accompanied by a high-pitched shriek.

Kaze quickly turned around:

"The fairy from yesterday?"

"NAVI!!"

Toki was off again, after the blue light.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Kaze quickly followed, trying to keep up with him at any cost. The last thing he needed was losing the sight of this boy again…

They both abrupty stopped, when they heard a mass of screams.

"AAAH!"

At least 50 fairies suddenly passed by them in panic, without even noticing the boys.

"Hurry, Hurry, we got to get away!!"

"Help!!"  
„What about the great fairy?"

"She can take care of herself!!"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no…."

"The fairies are… running away?", Toki asked in disbelieve "From what?!"

Kaze seemed to be just as perplexed:

"…What is going on?"

They watched the fairies rushing away, before they finally looked at each other, nodded and turned around to continue their way. Finally, they reached the spring…

Just to have the path behind them suddenly being sealed by an impassable wall of thorns, which shot out of the ground for no apparent reason. The same happened to every other way out of the area.

"The paths are all blocked...?", Kaze said, with the weird feeling of having a Dejá vu…

And Toki seemed to feel the same, considering that he suddenly reached for his sword and asked:

"Are thinking what I am thinking?"

In this moment, something emerged from the ground, producing a cloud of dust that dazzled the boys. It took them a few seconds to realize what just rose up from the earth before them:

A giant moth with four black wings and sharp claws, like a bird.

Toki prepared to attack:

"I knew it! A monster!"

„Look! In it's claws!"

In the creature's claws, there was a small, glowing figure… a fairy. Hair light was already faint, but it was still clear to see that it was supposed to be blue.

"It captured her! That's what made the other fairies flee!", Kaze realized.

A nod from Toki:

"We've got to finish this thing of and free her, before it can damage the spring!"

"Alright! I'll get it from behind and you attack the head, OK?"

"OK! Let's go!"

The two of them stormed towards the Monster and attacked it from both sides.

Kaze tried to ram his sword through the moth's back, but it's hard shell just let his blade glide off on the side. The young boy tripped and fell to the ground:  
"Ouch!... Darn it…"

"Then let's get rid of those wings first!!"

Toki placed four precise slashed towards both of the creature's wings, cutting them off, but almost as soon as he finished, 2 new pairs of wings emerged from the moth's body.

"What?!"

Kaze quickly got up again:

"It's gotta have some weakpoint…"

"It's a bug…", Toki thought aloud "Fire should kill it…"

"Yeah! If everything else fails, use fire!!", Kaze shouted out in amusement:

"But… oh! We gotta be careful, or we'll hurt the fairy as well!... I could use Fire-arrows, but I haven't got my bow with me!"

"But I got!"

Toki quickly got out his bow and used an arrow:

"Fire!!"

The arrow lit up in bright flames, just as the young hero let go of it, sending it towards the giant creature.

It had just the effect they hoped for:

The monster screamed, as it's wings caught fire and it let go of the fairy in it's claws.

"YEAH!"

Toki happily jumped, but was quickly interrupted by a string of silk, being shot at him by the monster.

"Wha—UGH!"

Before he could even react, he was pinned at the tree behind him, unable to move. Sword and bow slipped out of his hands.

"Oh no!"  
The moth was about to attack the unarmed, helpless boy, when a voice from behind echoed:

"FIRE!"

And suddenly, a second flaming arrow was stuck in the beast's body. Now, even it's shell caught fire. The archer who did this, Kaze, quickly ran past his "victim" and freed his partner with a clean strike of his sword.

"That arrow was my rescue!", Toki stated in relieve.

"No problem,"

Kaze quickly returned Bow and sword to Toki:

"Here!"

"Thanks!"

The two of them immediately started attacking the monster again. It tried to defend itself, by hitting everything around it with it's burning wings, but there was no use, it was already as good as finished.:

The two Link quickly grabbed one of their two swords together and combined their strength to ram it through the cracked shell of the beast.

It released one final, horrible scream, before it dissolved into dust…

As it died, the thorns disappeared as well. The paths to the spring opened again.

"Wheew…"

Toki sighed:

"Oh…I'm kinda out of touch, I guess… I could have really done better than this…"

"Weird… I felt weaker than usually as well…", Kaze realized:

"Ah…it doesn't matter. We did it!"

"Yeah!"

Toki winked at him:

"We're a great team, huh?"

Kaze nodded and rose his sword demonstrative:

"The heroes of Hyrule, at your service!!"

"Uhhhhm…"

The voice of the awakening fairy attracted the boys' attention.

They slowly went over to the tiny girl. Her light was still weak, making it easier to recognize her features:

She had dark-blue hair, worn in two braids and wore a simple, white dress. A cord served as a belt.

"Is it her?", Kaze asked out of curiousity „You know… your fairy?"

But Toki shock his head in disappointment:

"No… that's… that's not Navi. Her color is different… and she looks completely different was well… Arghh…"

He seemed a little bit desperate:

"What kind of friend am I, not being able to tell her apart from every other fairy I come across on first glance?..."

"Hey… don't be hard on yourself…", Kaze tried to cheer him up: "You'll find her, I'm sure."

Kaze wanted to say more uplifting things, but the fairy was now completely awake:

"Uhhh… the… the monster… where did it go?"

As her eyesight got better again, she looked around and slowly rose up from the ground… noticing the two boys before her. She flew up to them:

"Huh? You…Who… are you?"

"Oh! You're awake!"

Kaze smiled:

"Pleased to meet you! We're Link…"

Toki nodded and laughed:

"Both of us! But we've got ourselves nicknames now so… I guess you can call us "Toki" and "Kaze" to avoid confusion! Hehe…"

"Huh?"

Kaze continued:

"You see, we just passed by here, when we saw that moth attacking the spring. So we got rid of it."

"You… You killed the moth?"

The fairy starred at them in disbelieve for a few seconds, before she started to smile in awe:  
"Ah… Amazing!!! Absolutely amazing!! You must be very, very, very strong!!"

„Well, hehe…"

„This monster has been following me ever since I first came into this forest yesterday! I thought I'd be save at the holy spring, but no! Oh, I really, really don't want to know what that thing would have done to me if you hadn't…. uhh…."

„You just arrived here yesterday?", Kaze finally asked. "Does that mean, you're not living here?"

The fairy shock her head:

"I'm from the Fairy fountain on Mother-Child isle! The great Fairy-Queen sent me to search for the Hero of Winds… you don't happen to know where I could find him? Hm?"

Kaze laughed in pride:  
„Well, I don't want to brag… but he's right here!"

He pointed at himself.

"Yes, and he's supported by the Hero of Time!!", Toki quickly added.

Both boys posed with their swords, obviously proud of their titles.

The fairy looked at the boys in glee:

"You are really… Great! Just great, great great! I actually found you! Oh, you don't know, how glad I am… Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet! I am Eyne. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Link, Hero of Winds and Link, Hero of Time! "

She bowed down before them.

Kaze quickly tried, to get down to earth again and focus on the more important things:

"OK, then… Eyne. Why did the queen want you to see me?"

"Because… terrible things are about to happen!", Eyne stated uneasy.

"Terrible things?", Toki asked.

"Terrible, terrible, terrible things!!", Eyne emphasized " I don't know the details, but the queen told me…"

"Yes?"

The boys listened closely to t e little fairy's words.

"The queen said… "Find the Hero of Winds and the Princess of Light and bring them here…

They are the only one who can…save this world from… disappearing.""

_--Note--_

_Another chapter translated…_

_PLOT! Hurray! ^^_

_Eyne is an original character, a fairy companion. Don't worry, she won't consume more screentime than necessary. ;-p_

_In case you couldn't tell yet, she's a very nervous fairy and easy to excite. She's also naïve and a bit childish. _

_Not as knowledgeable as Navi or Tatl and not nearly as powerful as Ciela, but, hey, at least it's a fairy, right? XD_

_I predict that in the future chapters are going tob e twice as long as now. ^^;_


	9. Tetra's worries

Chapter 8:

Tetra's worries

Quickly.

They had to hurry up. Understandably, the two boys weren't exactly keen on getting first-row seats for the end of the world.

They had to alarm Tetra as fast as possible. Then, they had to get to Mother-Child Isle. Link (Kaze) knew that her majesty, queen of "Not-Yet-Existentia", was gonna scold him to hell, heavens and back for disobeying her orders and going out fairy-hunting in the middle of the night, but keeping it a secret from her was REALLY not the greatest issue right now. And, just for the record, Tetra wasn't actually _that_ bad. In his mind, Link always tended to demonize her a little, because she was an authority to him. Kind of like how third-graders would often demonize their nice, old granny-teachers, just because the ones to give them bad grades on certain subjects. Yeah, Tetra could get pretty rough and brutal from time to time, sometimes even downright unfair, but she was not, by absolutely no means, a bad person or even "evil". Actually, Link knew very well that Tetra was someone, whom you could count one when you need her, especially when it came to important issues. And this, most certainly, qualified as a very, VERY important issue.

What now counted was that they just reached the Queen's fountain in time, so the Great Fairy Queen could explain all the details to them. They'd then take care of the problem as quickly as possible, before any escalations could happen. At least, that was the ideal outcome that Link had in mind, but he knew very well that things **never** went as smoothly as he wanted them to go. For some reason, the universe just seemed to love labeling anvils with his name and to then let them randomly drop down onto his head. He just hoped that his luck would be a bit better than usually this time…

Especially now, that he had a partner psychically chained to him, which he didn't really want to endanger just because of his own chronically bad luck and/or clumsiness.

So, they had to see the Fairy Queen…

….The Fairy Queen… uhh…

Link wondered, if Eyne really had been talking about the great Fairy with the child-like appearance and that doll, who once granted him the elemental powers…

…right after flirting with him.

Yea~h, that had been kind of weird…

…

_Of course_ Eyne had been talking about that one fairy.

How many fairies could there possibly be who call themselves "Queen of all fairies?"

Now, if she just wouldn't start hitting on him again, he'd be very, very gratefu-

Argh, just what was he thinking about?! There were so much more important things right now. He had to focus!

This, however, proved to be rather difficult to him: The sun had already risen a few minutes ago, but just now, the 6 hours of sleep they missed were taking full effect. Both of the boys felt tired and exhausted, but it was too late to regret their decision from earlier that night and they knew they couldn't slow down now. They just had to inform Tetra.

Quickly.

"Com'on, Com'on, hurry, hurry, hurry!!"

Eyne kept pushing them, not allowing them to get even the tiniest little bit slower. She kept bumping into the boys heads, just to keep them from falling asleep while running, a method, which they seemed to severely dislike.

"Ouch! Hey, cut it out!!", Toki finally snarled, after getting his fifth hit on the head by the fairy:

"Why do I keep confusing fairies for Navi, who are absolutely NOTHING like her?!?!"

"There are too many blue fairies!!", Kaze finally stated, spontaneously thinking about Ciela and Neri (of course, Ciela was actually greenish-yellow, but, at least she used to be blue… kind of.)

"No, don't talk!! You must run! Run, please, run!!"

Eyne sounded, like she was on her tenth cup of espresso.

"OK, OK!!", Kaze shouted, getting faster, hopeing that this would keep him from getting any further bumps on his precious head. He already noticed, how the street was getting more even under his feet… they reached the foot of the hill and the village.

"Great, and now for Zelda!", Toki stated in relieve.

"Tetra", Kaze corrected him. "And I'm pretty sure she's on the ship already. She's always keeping an eye on every single step of the preparations, before we set sails."

Eyne quickly placed herself before the two Link's faces:

"Well, then, let's go, to the ship!! We have to meet the queen quickly, so hurry, because… HUH!"

Toki had grabbed her winds and pulled her towards him:

"Now, calm down and listen, OK? We can handle this. This is not our first time doing something like that. We are the pros, so just let us do our thing and… please… leave us be! Understood?"

"...The…pros… U-Understood… SIR!!"

She quickly saluted, as if she feared to receive some kind of punishment otherwise.

"Thank you."  
He let go of the fairy again.

The pirate's ship was still lying calmly on the coast of the island… Unusually calmly.

"Weird…"

At this time, Kaze actually expected the crew to already be chased around by Tetra's commanding voice all across the ship, preparing everything for their departure. Yet, neither a loud-voiced Tetra, nor a nervously running around bunch of pirates was to be spotted on deck of the ship. In fact, not a single sound seemed to disturb the, downright unnatural silence.

Carefully, the Links boarded the ship…

"Uhm… Hello?"

Still, silence, silence and some more silence. Nobody answered.

Now, Kaze shouted:

"Hey!! Where is everybody?!"

"Pss, Pss, Link!!"

Suddenly, the shortest of the pirates left the door to the inside of the ship, looking at Link (Kaze) in a shocked manner:

"Please, be a bit more quiet, please, swabby, pleee~ase!!"

"Niko! Where's Tetra?"

Niko seemed very nervous:

"'sleep".

"Asleep?", Link asked stunned „Are we talking about the same woman!? Isn't she usually already up by 5am?"

"She's not… feeling well…"

"What do you mean?"

Niko started to gesticulate:

"She was sleep-talking the whole night, rolling around like an empty barrel! Gonzo even claims, that he heard her scream!"

Screaming? That didn't sound like Tetra at all.

"And she's been whimpering your name! Over and over and over again! All the time "Link, please" or "Link, you must" or "Link, be careful" and so on… And now, she's not waking up for some reason!"

Nikos gestures became larger and more and more exaggerated.

"We wanted to wake her up, but… we don't dare to try. You know our boss. I, for my part, am not risking her getting mad at me for waking her up!"

"Alright, thank you."

This short exchange got Link very worried. Was Tetra ill? Now? The crew would never ever set off without her approval! And… much more importantly, she was his friend. He just hoped she wasn't feeling too bad… Oh no, what if it was something serious?!

With this thought, the boy hurried into the inside of the ship, followed by the other Link and Eyne.

He grabbed the doorknob of Tetra's cabin, opened and stormed into the room:

"Tetra, are you alright?!"

"Ah! Don't shout, please!!", Senza begged in surprise as he saw Link coming in, but the young hero just didn't care. He ran towards Tetra's bed and started starring nervously at her sleeping face…

Eyne quickly followed and curiously examined the girl in the bed:

"So, that's the princess?"

Link(Toki) nodded:  
"Hard to believe, isn't it?"

Meanwhile, Link(Kaze) bowed over her. She wasn't sleep-talking, like Niko claimed, at least not anymore, but she was shaking and full of sweat. The expression in her face was a nervous, frightened one…

"Does she have a fever!?", Link asked, while holding his hand onto her forehead to measure her temperature, but it was neither especially hot nor very cold. Just… normal.

"Seriously, we've no clue what the captain has!", Gonzo explained worried: "Except nightmares…"

Links expression turned a little desperate:

"Tetra…"

That was, when the pirategirl suddenly started blinking.

"Uhm…"  
Link noticed and tried to get a reaction:

"Tetra? Tetra, wake up, please!!"

"Ahh…. L…Link?"

Tetra opened her eyes… she gazed around for a few moments, before smiling at him:

"Link… Good morning!"

Relieved, Link took a deep breath:

"Wow… and I already thought… do you know how worried we all were?"

Tetra rose up her upper body and continued to smile at Link…

That was when Link noticed that something was still wrong:

That was not Tetra's smile.

Tetra never smiled like that. Whenever Tetra smiled, it was a cheeky, slightly mischievous smile, the kind of smile that let you know that the "smiler" was a strong willed person on first glance. But this smile was different. This smile was warm and caring and… girlish. And that frightened Link.

Tetra looked at everybody, not stopping to smile in this way:

"Oh, is that true? I'm so terribly sorry, I didn't want to make you worry! Hee hee…"

"Uhmm… Tetra?"

OK.

The last time Link heard _that _ tone in her voice was after the battle against Ganondorf. That was when she was wearing a pink dress. And trying to convince her great-great-great-great-granddad to _not _commit suicide.

What the heck was up with her?!?!

That weird, warm smile still on her lips, Tetra finally asked:

"Huh? Why are you all looking so shocked at me? I am fine, really! Oh, I've got an idea to cheer you up again! The sun must be wonderful today, hm? So, let's go outside to relax a little bit together… huh?... Link, why are you shivering?"

Link (The "Kaze" one. obviously) had backed up a few steps and was even getting ready to pull his sword out of it's scabbard:

"OK, who are you and what did you do to Tetra?!"

She threw him a confused look:

"Ah… Link, I think you are working to hard… Ah, I know! You should take some time off! Yes, a vacation, you really deserve one! You know what? I'm just going to let you stay here for one more week, while I'm going to Windfall Island with the men… you know, we still haven't paid back that money we took from poor Mila's fath—OUTCH!!"

With a loud "ZACK!" it finally happened:

Link slapped her.

A clean, hard and loud slap, right onto the face.

Everyone around them (including Toki and Eyne) was starring at the boy in shock.

The only heard word was a very long "Wooooow…." by Mako.

Link himself was not any less shocked when he realized just _what_ he had just done, so he started stuttering around nervously, while Tetra was still rubbing her cheek:

"I-I'm sorry, but I didn't know… I didn't mean… I mean… she wanted to give me a vacation!! A _vacation, _guys!! I just wanted Tetra to… I really didn't—"

"LINK!!", Tetra suddenly screamed, which abruptly ended his stuttering:

"Did you completely LOSE IT?! _What, _in all the three goddesses' names,was _that_ about?!"

She glared at the boy, like she was about to make him walk over the plank.

This caused Link laugh in joy:

"Tetra! You're normal again!"

"Of course I am normal!! But you're obviously not! Just what the heck where you thinking?!"

"I'm sorry, but I just wanted to help you!", he quickly answered.

"Help me? With what? Completely losing my nerves?!"

She grabbed him by his undershirt and angrily pulled him right under his face, while Link was still trying to defend himself:

"No, no, you just acted totally weird, I swear!!"

Mako nodded:

"Miss Tetra, he's saying the truth. You were not yourself!"

"Not myself?", Tetra asked skeptically, still holding Link by his shirt.

"You were behaving all sweet and girly, like one of those damsels in children's storybooks."

"Damsel, huh?"

"You were trying to give me a VACATION!!", Link shouted, trying to finally free himself of Tetra's grasp.

"What?!", she let go of him, causing him to flop down to the floor like a bag of wheat.

"Ouch…"

"Nobody is taking a vacation on MY ship!!"

"But you said so!!"

"No, I nev—" suddenly, her pupils widened: "Wait a sec… I did…. I _did_ say that! Oh no… what's wrong with me? Am _I_ loosing it?! Guys!"

The pirates rather not commented.

Nobody of them as keen on taking a walk over the plank.

"If I'm allowed to say something…", Toki finally said: "You just reminded me a lot of Zelda… _my _Zelda, I mean. She'd always behave like that whenever I came to visit her."

"Zelda?", Tetra asked "…Does that mean, I just behaved like a spoiled little princess?…. UHH!"

She slapped her hands over her shoulders and held them, like she was feeling cold:

"No! That mustn't be!! I'm a pirate! A PIRATE, damn it! And not just any pirate, I'm a Captain! I must not act like… like… a little girl!!"

"Well, at least you're completely back to normal now.", Link (Kaze) stated. "Say… the others told me, that you were having nightmares and sleep-talking. And that you whispered my name. What where you dreaming of?"

"Uhhm… dreaming…?....HUH!---- Uhm…"

As Tetra presumably tried to recall her dream, she suddenly seemed frightened. The very same expression she had shown while she was still asleep reappeared on her face. She became very nervous:  
"Ah… Whatever! That's non of your business!!"

"Tetra, I'm just worried, OK?"

"….Ah… I dreamt… of horses!"

Link threw her a skeptical look:

"You were having nightmares… of horses."

"Because _you_ were riding!"  
"Hey!!"

Toki started meddling:

"OK, you can tell me a lot, but that's ridiculous! Why should anyone be afraid of horses? Just for the matter, horses are awesome!!"

Tetra turned to the other boy:

"I'm not afraid of horses, dolt!"  
"Then why where you sleep-talking!?", Kaze asked.

"I weren't!", she denied.

"That's not true!!"

Link just kept arguing:

"The whole crew heard you!"

"Then they're hearing thi--- wait a minute… You were in my cabin at _night_?!"

The crew was glaring angrily at Link.

"Great job, boy!", Gonzo whispered angrily.

"S-Sorry…"

Cooking with rage, Tetra finally announced:

"OK, that DID it! Lunch is canceled! For ALL of you!!"

„WHAT?!"

"For the crew: Because you neglected the taboo on my room; for Link: because you hit me; for that other guy: BECAUSE YOU JUST LOOK SUCH A DARN LOT LIKE HIM AND 'CAUSE I'M IN VERY ROTTEN MOOD RIGHT NOW!!"

"That's just plain unfair!!", Toki complained.

"PERFECT!", Tetra snarled "And, while we're at it, what's that fairy doing in here?!"

Tetra had just noticed Eyne and seemed to be slightly annoyed by the sound of her wings, since she was flying really close to Tetra's face right now:

"You're one mean, mean princess! Yes, you are!", Eyne stated firmly.

"Ha! I'll show you mean!"

Tetra grabbed Eyne by her wings:

"I heard somewhere that fairy tears a worth a lot of cash!"

"AHHH!", Eyne tried to free herself "She's scary!! Somebody, help me!!"

"Tetra!", Link (Kaze) quickly freed the fairy from Tetra's grasp: "Calm down, please! We've got much bigger problems right now!"

"What kind of problems?"

"APOCALYPSE!!", Eyne screamed in her loudest voice.

That certainly got Tetra's attention:

"Uhm… what now?!"

She was looking at the fairy in a skeptical way:  
"If that's supposed to be a joke, it's a rather bad one."

"She isn't joking, Tetra! Eyne came to warn us!", Link quickly explained in a very serious tone: "We've got to hurry to the fountain of the Great Fairy Queen!"

Tetra was staring at him in shock:

"You… are being serious…? The end… of the world?"

Both Links nodded, while Eyne was nervously hovering up and down:

"Absolutely! The queen was very, very excited when she sent me and that is saying something!

For a few minutes, Tetra's eyes kept alternately looking at the two Link and the fairy, just like she was expecting them to suddenly jump up and shout "Gottcha!"

But they didn't.

They were being serious… absolutely serious…

"Well… what are we still doing here then?!", Tetra suddenly asked:

"Link, Gonzo, Niko, Senza, Mako, Zuko, Nudge! Prepare everything for departure! We're setting off for Mother-Child-Isle in 2 hours!"

"AYE!"

Immediately everybody started working and in less than 1 ½ hours, they were ready to set sails.

Link quickly said goodbye to Aryll ("Please bring me a present next time you come home! Hee hee!") and grandma ("And remember to brush your tooth trice a day, alright?") , before he packed the last of his things and went, together with the other Link, to board the ship.

As he passed by, he noticed Tetra on the beach, gazing out to the sea... She was obviously thinking about something…

"…Would you please wait here for a second?", Kaze finally asked Toki. "I got to talk to her… It's not gonna take long."

He nodded:

"Uhm… OK."

He sat down in the sand, while Kaze, Link, approached the girl from behind:

"Tetra?"

"Huh?", she turned around:  
„Oh, it's you, Link… Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, all set."

"Good, board the ship then. We're setting out in 30 minutes."

She was turning around again, as Link's voice suddenly asked:

"Tetra… what did you really dream of?"

"Hm?"

She turned her head back at him:

"You're accusing me of lying?"

Link sighed:

"I'm having weird dreams as well lately. You know that, right? And that's saying something, I usually never remember my dreams! And the other boy, Toki, he claimed that you were behaving like the ancient Princess Zelda! That all just can't be a coincidence!"

Tetra threw him a skeptical look:  
"So, you're actually using those stupid nicknames?"

"Tetra! Please!", Link begged „It could be very important, you know!"

Tetra was still hesitating. She was looking at the ground for a few seconds, before she finally muttered:

"Ganondorf…"

"Huh?"

"Ganondorf…I dreamt of… him…", she said a bit louder.

"I was in a castle… King Daphnes was with me – at least he looked like him… He called me "daughter"… then, Ganondorf entered the room. The king was… praising him… called him "loyal", "knightly" and "brave"… I started to shout and to protest. I tried to warn everybody in the room of him, but the king just sent me into the garden. Then, you came- at least I think that it was you… We were talking. Something about the Triforce… but suddenly, Ganondorf came on a horseback and grabbed me. Everything turned dark around us and so… bizarre… You were riding on a horse and fighting against Ganondorf, but I had no weapons and could only watch… And just when it looked like you got him, he suddenly turned into a… dark cloud of some sort and covered everything. I called for you, but you didn't answer… you were…gone… I was all alone… Suddenly, a flood wave came and washed over me… everything turned all weird and nothing made sense anymore from that point on…"

She trembled.

"This darn dream was so cold… I felt like I was freezing… And now, I can't get it out of my head anymore! Oh, it must be because of this thing!!"

She looked at the back of her right hand, were the triforce's mark was shining brightly.

"If I just could get rid of it…"

"What if that dream was a message?", Link asked "I mean… before… you said it yourself: Since the hero of time appeared here, it could just as well be that Ganondorf—"

"That's what I'm afraid of! That and the fact that I'm not feeling like myself!"

"Not like yourself?"

"Don't be stupid! You said yourself before: I wasn't acting like me! And you know what? I didn't even notice! It was just when you told me, that I noticed! It felt completely natural all the time!"

"But that wasn't natural!", Link argued „At least not for you!"

"Exactly!"

…Was that… despair in Tetra's eyes?

"Link… I don't wanna be somebody else! I like myself just the way that I am! That's why I told you and the other's to keep calling me "Tetra", remember?"  
He nodded.

"Maybe… the fairy-queen can tell us something about that as well?", Link suggested, mainly to calm down his friend a bit.

"Yeah… maybe…"

For a moment, it seemed like Tetra was having a headache…

"Ahh… whatever. Go, board the ship now, OK?"

"OK."

Link went back over to his waiting partner, as Tetra quietly sighed:

"…I'd rather not tell him, what else I saw in that… darn dream…"

She closed her eyes as hard as she could.

_--Note--_

_Brought to you by "My maths-test"._

_Because I was in need for a pastime that distracted me from it properly._

_I know, OoT Link is doing almost nothing in this chapter, but don't worry. He'll be back in action by the next one. I needed to focus on Tetra in this one. To be honest, I made Eyne MORE nervous and annoying in the English version than she was in the German one ON PURPOSE, because her personality was so terribly inconstant in the original. She was a non-character, which really clashed with the latter parts of the story (no spoilering here) so I changed her. Still, I try not to give her to many lines. In my fanfictions, Original Characters are a device of the plot, not the other way around. I added her, because I wanted to play around with the much-loathed concept of fairy-companions in Zelda-games. It just had to be done, considering all the Navi-references. Note that I actually like Fairy-companions. x-P _

_By the way, you may have already noticed, but I love the dynamics between Tetra and Link(TWW). Those two are what made me a part-time ZeLink-shipper (Though I still support most other shippings as well…) Just to clear things up, this is no Shipping-fanfiction, so it won't take over more than a fraction of the plot, but TetraxLink will be by far the strongest implied pairing. And once the Twilight Princess Parts come in (Yeah, there will be TP parts), I'll show you how well you can pull off all three girls'(Ilia, Midna, Zelda) relationship with Link, without turning two of them into evil, cheating bitches… *sigh*_


	10. Graceless Winds

Chapter 9: 

Graceless Winds

"_Link…"_

_Somebody was there… somebody was waiting for him. _

_Music… calm, tender music and the sound of leaves moving in the wind…_

"_Come here, Link… please… return here, please…"_

_This voice… he knew this voice…_

_There was a light… such a tender, warm light…_

"_Return… back to our… forests…"_

_He wanted to know, who was calling for him._

_He reached out his hand to the light and…_

…

"AHH! NO! H-HEY!!"

Link (Kaze) quickly opened his eyes. He was holding something in his hand…

After one second of examination, that "something" turned out to be little Eyne, who was being squeezed between his clutching fingers:

"Ugh… Not… getting… any... AIR!! H-HELP!", she wheezed in despair.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Eyne!!"

He quickly let go of the fairy, who hurried to get out of her trap and away from it as fast as possible.

Just a split seconds afterwards, Link was suddenly hit on the back of his head by a Broomstick from behind.

"OUCH!!"

Right after the pain, dizziness befell Link. Rubbing the, now hurting, back of his head, he turned around…

Tetra was there.

"Hey!! Why'd you do that?!", Link asked in pain.

"No slacking off during cleaning-duty, you lazy bum!!"

Cleaning duty?...

There was a wet mob in his other hand… Oh yes, now he remembered, he had just been scrubbing the deck, when…

"You should be ashamed of yourself! You're supposed to be working, not taking a nap in the broad daylight!", Tetra stated.

Link just yawned:  
"Easy to say for you! _You _actually got some sleep tonight!!"

"Hmpf!", she threw him a belittling look: "You should have thought about that BEFORE wandering off into the forest to hunt fairies!"

A tired stare:

"…You are _aware_, that we'd be **doomed** now, if I didn't do that tonight, aren't you?"

"So what?", was Tetra's simple answer to this.

"Uhm… Excuse me…"

A third voice promptly joined the conversation:

"Say… Why do_ I_ have to help cleaning your ship anyway…?"

Tiredly, Toki leaned against his Mob and hoped not to lose the balance and fall down to the ground.

"I don't even belong to the crew…"

Tetra argued:

„If you want to ride this ship, you've got to work just like everyone else!"

"But I had no choice!"

"Sucks for you."

The two Link could only clueless look at each other and sigh. Trying to argue with Tetra was absolutely no use…

"Miss Tetra!", Niko suddenly shouted "We're getting head wind!"

"Oh, is that so?", she asked. She threw a short look at Kaze from the corners of her eyes:

"That's your cue, Link."

"THANK GODDESS!!"

Conducting a nice little song, instead of scrubbing and mopping the dirty floor? Worked for him!"

"Lucky him…", Toki sighed, while he watched the other boy climb the mast, up into the crow's nest and getting into position:

"Ahem!"

With a presenting gesture, Link got out the Wind Waker and rose it.

As soon as he started to wave it in the air, voices out of nowhere… no, the wind itself started to sing. A calm, little melody…

"And now… NORTH!"  
The boy abruptly waved the baton to the north and as he did, the wind followed that move and turned around, now perfectly blowing into their sails. The ships speed accelerated.

The little hero quickly put away the magical baton again and jumped out of the crow's nest again, landing just before Tetra's feet:

"See? That's what I call true mastery!"

This sentence seriously made him sound, like he was desperately trying to show off his "great skills".

Not that Tetra cared.

"Yeay, yeah, great Link."

She didn't even bother to look at him, since she was completely occupied with one of her sea-charts. All she did was waving at him:

"You can continue your cleaning-duty now."

"W-Wha—"

"HA HA!", Toki laughed gloatingly over the great „maestro's" failure to get any attention or praise at all.

Kaze just grabbed his mob again in anger, mumbling:

"…Why aren't you scrubbing once for a change?!… arghh… I'll show you…Next time, I'll just take, like, 20 minutes to conduct that stupid song on purpose and then… "

Carelessly and using way too much water, Link waved the mob around the floor.

Tetra was treating him like a slave, not like a friend-

On second thought, Tetra treated ALL her friends like slaves. Maybe that was her way of showing her affection…

While considering this, Link thought if it wouldn't be better for him if she hated him… But that thought quickly withered and died when Link remembered how Tetra tended to treat the people she _despises_.

Worst idea ever.

Link's little tantrum was finally ended, when the ship suddenly shock, like it had hit obstacle.

"WOAH!"

The whole vehicle started to swing forth and back, like it was hanging on a pendulum. Niko, Gonzo and Senza all lost their balance and fell down, while both of the Link's buckets of water were catapulted up into the air, right into their respective owner's face. Tetra almost ripped through the sea chart with her face, so she quickly put it away:

"UHMGH!... What's going on?!"

"CAPITAN! MONSTERS!"

„HUH?!"

The two young hero both jumped up simultaneous, threw away the empty water-buckets and ran to the reeling to get a glance of what Mako's been talking about. Their pupils abruptly narrowed in shock, as they saw what he meant.

Yes, there were monsters. But not just 1 or 2.

It was an ARMADA.

"W-Where did those come from all of the sudden?!", Kaze shouted out in surprise. He was sure that this monster hadn't been there when he was in the crow's nest just a minute ago.

"That must be part of what the queen's been talking about!", Eyne stated in fear. "Those monsters are hunting for you, because you're the hero! And they won't give in until you're out of their master's way!"

"Then let's get them out of OUR way!!", Toki shouted and was already about to pull his sword out of his scabbard, when Eyne shock her head:

"No, No, No! They're to many! And you can't fight in water! You'll just get hurt, I know it!"

„I'm afraid, she's right!"

Kaze backed a little bit off, away from the reeling, while saying this… just in time to escape a projectile that an Octorok shot at him:

"AH!"

"DARN!", Tetra shouted "We gotta get out of here! Change course! CHANGE COURSE!"

Gonzo quickly turned around the stirring-wheel, as he hear his Caiptain's command and Link quickly pulled out the Wind Waker again, to change the Wind's direction.

As the ship's speed increased greatly, it seemed like they'd be able to escape… until…

They suddenly stopped moving.

The wind had stopped.

"Oh no! CALM!", Niko screamed in terror.

Tetra nervously threw a glance at the approaching monster:  
"Even if we use the paddles, we're just not fast enough without any wind in our sails… LINK! DO something!!"

"I can't!!", he answered, desperately waving his baton around „There's no wind to control and, for some reason, I just can't summon any new wind!!"

Toki looked up:

"Wind, huh?... Well, let's try!!"

The other Link grabbed his Ocarina and hurried up the mast, into the crow's nest.

"Hey!"

Kaze watched him in surprise:

"What are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to bring the wind back!!"

He looked up to the cloudless skies… and brought the Ocarina of time to his lips.

"Time for the… "Song of storm"!"

Softly blowing into the instrument, he started to play the melody he's known for such a long time now.

After the first 6 notes, the Wind already started to return.

"Amazing… it's working!"

Tetra felt how he bangs started moving in the yet soft wind. She quickly looked over Kaze:

"Link! You too! hurry!!"

"Alright!

When Toki was about to repeat the melody once more, Kaze started to move the Wind Waker in the tact of the Ocarina's song, started to conduct it. And the wind began to sing it's own song.

In perfect unison and harmony, the Hero of Time and the Hero of Winds played the song of storms; the ancient song that could awaken the powers of the goddess of winds herself.

And her heavenly wind grew stronger and stronger.

"Yeay! And now… HA!"

Finally, Kaze pulled the Wind Waker into the direction, they wanted to escape to: The wind immediately focused and blew into just this direction, into their sails, allowing them to multiply their speed and leave the monsters far behind them.

"Perfect!" Tetra watched the monsters becoming more and more tiny on the horizon and finally, vanishing beneath the waves: "OK, boys, you can stop no-- AAAAHHH!"

But the wind had grown so strong by now, that it had almost become a hurricane. The song of Storms had created a true storm.

A storm, which now threatened to blow every last passenger out of the ship. To make it even worse, it started raining and the wet floor made it almost impossible for everybody to keep their grip on the ground under their feet. The crew tried to do everything in their power to secure and save the ship, but the wind was too strong and nobody was able anymore to even more around freely without being blown away.

"Ah!"

Eyne just barely escaped some flying flotsam. Scared, she quickly hid under Kaze's cap.

Meanwhile, Tetra held tightly to the mast and screamed in terror:

"LINK! BOTH OF YOU, STOP THIS!!"

"I-I don't know how!", Toki admitted in surprise.

"WHAT?!"

Meanwhile, Kaze was trying everything to weaken the wind again:

"ARGH… It's no use! No matter where or how I direct it, it's just not getting any less powerful!!"

"The Ballad of Gales!!!", Tetra shouted "Use the Ballad of Gales!!"

Of course! The Ballad of Gales!

He almost forgot about the song… he hadn't used it ever since the battle against Ganondorf. The danger of accidently damaging the ship (which was much larger and heavier than the King of Red Lions had ever been) by using the song had kept Link from conducting it ever since back then, but right now they had far worse problems to worry about, so…

He just wanted to move up the baton and start the melody, when suddenly a strong gust came and ripped it out of his hand:

"My Baton!!"

"Huh!"

The Baton passed by Tetra, who quickly caught it out of reflex, but let go of the mast by doing so, causing her to slip and lose every grip on the wet floor. Yet another sudden gust caught the girl, blowing her across the ship, over the reeling.

"AAAAAAHH!"

The whole crew screamed in shock:

"MISS TETRA!!!!"

Tetra tried to grab the reeling and pull herself back on board, but her hand slipped:

"LIIIIINK!!!!"

She was carried away by the wind, the Wind Waker still in her fist.

Shocked, her Link tried to run after her:

"NO!! TETRA!!!"

He was ready to jump after her, but a whole bunch of hands grabbed him by his tunic and held him back.

"Don't be an idiot, kid!! That's not like last time!!", Gonzo shouted.

"Yeah!!", Mako agreed "If you do this now, you're both dead!!"

"But… But…"

Yet another gust hit the ship.

"WOAH!!"

The ship was wiggling heavily on the giant waves almost capsized. Kaze tried his best to stop the ship from doing so, but he didn't even have his baton anymore and without Tetra to lead them the crew was completely out of control.

It just got worse and worse. Finally, they lost every last bit of control over the ship and it made a sudden 80° turn and was once again about to turn over.

That was, when also the second green-clad boy, who was still up in the crow's nest, who'd been steady like a rock up to this point, lost his grip on the mast and fell into the water.

"AHH!"

"No!!"

Kaze – Link wanted to help Toki. But what could he do that wasn't suicide?

Finally, these thoughts became meaningless anyway:

Link, as well, lost his grip, got caught up by the wind and fell over the heavily inclined reeling.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

"LINK!", he heard the pirates shout, before the great sea's water started to surround him and to cloud his senses. Without being able to think clearly any longer, he tried to take a deep breath, which caused masses of water to flow into his lungs, burning like fire.

Finally, Link passed out under the pain.

---Note

_Because making the group split up by force is so much fun. *sadistic* ^^_

_I swear to god, the beginning of this chapter sounded far better and, most of all, funnier in the German version. Seems like some things just don't translate well… _

_I have the first part of the chapter sketched in Manga-form, but I don't know if you are allowed to post this kind of link here, so I'll just let it be. _

_Ah, the song of storms. Who doesn't love it? ^^_

_I was actually quite disappointed, that the song of storms wasn't in Wind Waker. I mean, WIND Waker, Song of STORMS? Why NOT put that song, of all songs, in?! Why? And when it also wasn't even in Twilight Princess, which had so many remixes, I knew that something was horribly wrong… _

_Well, at least it's still in Brawl…. On the Wind Waker stage. Well, at least the Brawl-team seemingly got the clue…_

_Just to make one thing clear: Nobody died. Tetra's alive and so are both of the Links. But that doesn't mean that I'm completely averted from making characters in my story die… he he…_

_I'm a weird person. I try to behave all cute and bubbly and have a love for everything pink, but sometimes, I can get pretty… messed up… MUHAHAHAHA!!_


	11. Forest Haven's story

Chapter 10:

Forest Haven's Story

"A storm in the middle of the open fields?"

Princess Zelda, ruler of Hyrule, stood up from her seat when her loyal maid brought this alarming message.

"Yes. But it was no usual storm. It apparently was a hurricane.", she explained.

Zelda touched her lips with her fingers in confusion.

"A hurricane? How can that be? There aren't any oceans near this lands which could spawn such a storm…"

"And yet, it happened.", the maid stated firmly. "Several people claim to have seen it with their own eyes, some of them happen to be among the most trustworthy and loyal men in all of Hyrule."

"By the Goddesses…."

Zelda tried to stay calm. Never before had something like this happened in Hyrule and she also never thought that something like this would ever happen in Hyrule. Just one thing was for sure: Something strange and frightening was going on in her kingdom, something that might even turn out to be a great danger, even if nobody yet knew what it was…

And then, there was this strange sensation she felt in her heart… A feeling like she, herself, was in mortal danger in this very moment…

No… she had to stay calm. Especially because…

"…"

"Your majesty, is there anything I can do for you?", the maid asked when she saw the worried look in Zelda's eyes.

"Ah… Yes."

Zelda sat down into her chair again:

"Would you please bring me some more of the herbal potion for him?"

"Of course, your Majesty…"

The maid left the room

Zelda was alone again. She took a glance out of the window behind her:

"It is getting worse…" she whispered and fear was making her voice tremble: "…and you can do nothing."

She turned to the side.

On the bed beside her was a young, blonde man. Absolutely motionless… only his weak breath and slow heartbeat could still be heard.

With worry in her voice, Zelda whispered:

"Just what happened to you…

Link…"

-~-

_Link…_

"Uhmm…"

Again… somebody was calling his name again.

How often did he have that dream now in the past days? Thrice? Four times?

Him, who never before even remembered his dreams was now having this very same with the very same voice of the very same girl over and over and over again… Why was that?

And, even more importantly… where was he?

"The… Storm…"

Link felt something soft under his hands…

Gras.

There was Gras beneath his fingers.

"Uhm."

He slowly opened his eyes and tried to get up.

…He was alive…

Link found himself on the edge of an island, which was apparently covered by trees… he knew this island.

His cap was still full of water, so he took it off and emptied it. But along with the water, something else flowed out of his green head-wear: A small, blue, winged figure..

"Huh!"

Fortunately, she safely landed in the soft grass.

"Eyne!", Link called her name in surprise:

"I'm sorry! Are you alright?"

"Uh…", she opened her eyes and slowly got up:

"Ouch… yes, I think… I can still fly…"

She quickly checked on both of her wings, just to prove her statement right and, thankfully, couldn't find any injuries. Link sighed relieved:

"Well, at least we're…"

Then, he suddenly remembered, what exactly happened—

"Oh no…. Tetra… the crew… To—OH NO, TOKI!!"

That's when it hit Link:

Even if Tetra and the others survived (and he prayed that this was the case), Toki was bound to him! Even if he managed to reach the shore of an island, he wouldn't survive without him around! He'd have about 10 more minutes to live, before dissolving into thin air! The Hero of Time would…

"Oh no… Please not!!"

"Uhgh..."

"Huh?"

Kaze turned around to check for the source of the weird sound and found a green person, sitting by a rock, rubbing the back of his head:

"Ouch, Ouch, Ouch…"

"Toki!!"

He jumped up and ran to the other boy:

"Thank goddesses, you're alright!!"

"Uhm… Kaze?"

Toki looked up and as his blurry eye view started to clear up, he came to recognize the person standing before him as his almost-doppelganger…

"Yes… I think so… and you?"

"Well, I'm still feeling a little dizzy, but yes, I'm fine."

"Whew…"

Toki got up from the floor. He reached his hand into his bag… to find… nothing.

He was shocked:

"My Ocarina! Where's my…Oh!"

When Toki leaned forward, his cap fell of his head. He picked it up and out fell the blue Ocarina he'd been searching for. Carefully and relieved, he picked up the valuable instrument:

"Ah… Alright… I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, if I lost Zelda's Ocarina…"

"Yeah, but my baton's gone.", Kaze stated: "And Tetra with it! … Tetra…"

Disappointed by himself, he starred at the ground:

"And I couldn't do anything to help her… I feel so miserable…"

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's alright!", Toki said „If your Zelda is just like my Zelda, she surely found a way to help herself! She's smart!"

"You're right, but still…"

Kaze couldn't say anything else. He was to worried about Tetra.

"We have to find her again!", Eyne suddenly stated "The queen wanted to see both of you! It cannot be good if one is missing, no, no!"

"Hm…" Toki took a glance at his left hand: "The Triforce parts are always resonating to each other… Maybe we can use this to sear Zel—uhm, I mean, Tetra."

"Yes, I hope so…"

Kaze threw a worried look at his own Triforce. Just now, Toki took a few seconds to look around:

"Where are we anyway…?"

"Don't worry, I know where we are.", Kaze said „This is Forest Haven, the Island of the Forest-Spirits."

"Forest Haven? That doesn't sound bad at all!", Toki stated smiling: „I know about forests!"

"Uhm, like the one on Outset?", Kaze asked skeptically.

"Hey! Don't start this again!"

"Guys, Guys!", Eyne tried to calm them down "Don't fight, OK? You have to find Tetra! Teamwork is very, very important now, you know?"

"OK, OK, I was just saying…"

Kaze made an appeasing gesture towards the fairy and the other boy:

"Anyway… There's some ancient guardian-spirit inside this island's forest, not too far from here… maybe he can help us!"

Toki nodded:

"Great Idea! OK, let's go."

"Alright. Com' on!"

Kaze ran into the forest and Toki closely followed. They passed by the weirdest plants and even some Dekubaba (which they quickly got out of their way without much effort). The air was filled by a strange kind of magic.

Toki's steps became slower…

He was carefully looking around. Finally, he said:

„You know… I kinda feel, like… I've been here before... Everything seems familiar…"

Kaze stopped and turned around to the other boy:

"Really?"

"Yes. For example…"

Toki kneeled down and picked up a flower:

"This flower… in my time, it only grew in…"

He took a close look at the blossom in his hand… suddenly he felt, like he was hearing Saria's Ocarina again…

"…No… that's surely just a coincidence…"

He put the flower back to the ground:

"My Hyrule… doesn't exist anymore…"

"Toki…"  
Kaze looked at the other Link… He felt so sorry for him.

Just what could he do to help him?...

…Nothing.

Exactly. Because there was just nothing one could do about something like that.

"Hey… Let's go on…"

Toki nodded:  
„Yeah…"

They continued their way through the forest. Still, Toki just couldn't get rid of this sense of familiarity anymore… And finally, also Eyne stated:

"You know…"

"Huh… what?", Kaze asked.

"I think, this once used to be a fairy forest…"

"Why are you thinking this?", the boy asked in surprise.

"Well, I am a fairy so I just… feel it…I think."

"A fairy forest.", Toki repeated quietly… His heart jumped a little bit…

No. That just couldn't be. Why was he even trying to get his own hopes up? That would just make it hurt even more when that hopes turned out to be wrong… And they were wrong. Hyrule was gone. So everything connected to Hyrule was gone as well… simple…

That's what he kept telling himself…

Until they passed by something that caught his attention:

An old, rotten bridge.

"Well, at least we don't have to go over _that_ thing!", Kaze snickered. "Com'on, we got to go this way, Toki!—Uhm… Toki?"

Toki had frozen. Eyes wide open, pupils widened; he was starring at the bridge before him:

"T-That's…"

"Toki?", Kaze once again asked confused.

Toki shook his head once in disbelieve, then once again in surprise:

"Kaze!! That's…That's the bridge to the Kokiri-Village!! My home…"

He went a few steps up…

"Here! That's where Saria gave me my first Ocarina! Where she bid me farewell, when I first left the forest!"

Kaze followed:

"You're sure?!"

"Absolutely!", he answered full of joy- and ran across the ancient bridge, which, surprisingly, didn't crumble away under the boy's feet.

"Hey! Wait up!!—Uh…"

It was no use. That guy just never listened… Kaze had to follow.

„But I am defiantly not going over that thing…", he said to himself, since the thought alone made him shiver. Fortunately, he had his equipment with him, so he just got out his grappling-hook and swung across the gap, successfully avoiding the bridge.

He quickly followed the way the other boy went:

"Toki! Wait up a little!... Toki?"

He found him at the edge of a glade, completely silent. He was just looking at the scenery before him: A wide open area with a little stream of water leading to a tiny pond. There were several old tree stumps, which looked like they'd been hollowed out a long time ago, but now they were covered and filled in vines and other plants…

Kaze approached the other boy:

"Hey… are you alright…?"

Toki ignored him:

"What… happened here?"

He slowly went up, into the glade:

"This is… the village…I'm sure… But it's all destroyed…"

The boy kept examining everything around him:

"Look! That used to be the shop! And that was Mido's house! And up there where the training-grounds! And that house over there belonged to Sa…"

He stopped mid-sentence.

"…Saria…"

Finally, he was back again…

Back home…

But he couldn't be happy because of it…

The village lay in ruins… he should have known it.

He continued his path, until he got to a tree, from which a few old, wooden planks where loosely hanging down:

"…This used to be mine… My tree house. Here, I met Navi…"

He leaned against the old tree:

"I wonder what became of the Kokiri…?"

Kaze had slowly followed him:

"Listen… I'm… so sorry for you…"

The boy turned around to him. And tried to smile:

„Well… at-… at least I saw it once again!" He whipped away a few tears. "Nothing's… eternal… you know?"

Kaze carefully touched the other boys shoulder:

"Hey… Let's move on… alright?"

"Alright…"

Toki nodded.

He took one last glance at the ruins of the tree house…

Then, he turned around and left the village…

A few minutes passed in absolute silence… until Toki noticed something:

"…Wait a moment… Didn't you say, we were searching for a guardian-spirit?"

"Hm Hm!", Kaze nodded.

This made Toki turn his head in surprise:

"But… the guardian-spirit of this forest has always been…"

"We're there!"

Kaze pulled a branch in his way aside.

They entered yet another glade.

Toki had a presentiment… If this was the forest… his forest… Could it be, that…

His presentiment was proven to be true, when he saw a giant tree. A tree so huge, that it's branches made it impossible to see the sky above what would have been an opening in the forest otherwise…

Could that really be…

Yes.

The tree had a face.

And that face was looking at Toki—at Link. Surprised. Bewildered.

A deep voice rose up:

"How… How can it be… you… you are…"

And Link smiled. In happiness. In joy. In relieve.

He shook his head once, just to be sure, he wasn't dreaming or seeing things, then he shouted:

"GREAT DEKUTREE!!!"

And the tree actually answered:

"Link, my child, is that really you?"

Link joyfully ran up to the tree and hugged it, which caused the other one(Kaze) to stumble back in surprise:

"They… They KNOW each other?"

Eyne looked like she was trying to recall something:

"Wait, wait…. Oh, yes! Of course! The great guardian spirits predate the great flood by faaaar! All three of them! The areas they inhabited where saved by the goddesses, you know!"

"And you're telling me that now? If you said that before, he'd have known that there was still somebody he knew around!"

"I didn't think of it!"

"Well…"

Kaze watched how Toki happily talked to the tree:

"At least he found somebody who knows and remembers him…"

"I can't tell you, how glad I am to see you!!", Link(Toki) shouted. "I… I thought everybody was dead! I thought, I was all alone again, like when… But you're still there…"

The Dekutree just looked at him in a confirming manner:

"Oh… Child… I am glad to see you again as well… But how come, that you are here? The last time I saw you… Was after my rebirth in the great imprisoning war… when I told you about your heritage…"

"Hm?"

Link listened up. He knew that what the great Dekutree said was correct… But for some reason, his mind told him that something about that story didn't quite check out… just what?

He had no time to think about this, because the tree already continued his speech:

"…and now you are here… in this form… next to…. This boy…"

The tree caught a quick glance of Kaze, before letting his eyes of him again:

"If you're existing side by side… So it really wasn't him… I was wrong after all… Still, quite an amazing child as well…"

"Uhm… what are they talking about? I don't get it!!", Kaze quietly stated in confusion.

Eyne tried to help him out:

"No wonder you can't understand them! They're talking ancient Hylian!"

"Hylian… Oh, I get it! That's why I couldn't understand the guardian-spirits back then as well! They're all talking Hylian?"

"I think so…", Eyne stated unsure "But I think the Dekutree learned some of the Great sea's language some time ago… I don't know, I only heard the rumors from the other fairies."

"…Wait a minute…" Link came to think "If they were using a different language back in the times of the ancient kingdom… how come, Toki and I can understand each other?"

Eyne just shrugged in a "Don't know" manner.

"I haven't got the slightest clue, how I got here, Great Deku-tree!", Link stated excited "I just woke up here one morning in his room and… by the way, what do you mean by "It wasn't him"? What wasn't him?"

"Oh… So the first thing you faced when you woke up here was the boy, who shares your very name?"

"Exactly!", Link stated "He and everybody else I met here are saying that Hyrule was flooded, because I was gone! Is that really, true?"

He let his head hang down.

"My little Link…" the wise tree said "No matter what everybody told you, you are not responsible for what happened to the kingdom. I know about your reason for your disappearance and really, neither you, nor Zelda, could have known of the consequences. It was a terrible twist of fate that Ganon managed to return, nothing else. How should you have done anything about it?"

"But… if I didn't leave…. Hyrule would still be there!"

"…it is still there."

"Huh?"

The Tree's look turned serious:  
„So, you don't know what happened, when you left?"

"What… what are you talking about?", Link asked.

The Dekutree took a deep breath:

"Because of your necessary travels through time, the ancient wall that separates all ages had grown weary and started to crumble. In order to restore it, Princess Zelda used the Ocarina of Time… But it was impossible to undo all the damage. You changed too many things. So, in order to maintain the balance, the world…. split.

Links eyes were wide open:

"It SPLIT?!"

The tree's face nodded:

"Yes. Into two parts. Each part's history continued vastly different:

This is the world, the Hyrule, which was hit by Ganon's unfortunate return after your heroic deeds, the Hyrule which sunk beneath the waves and finally disappeared. And in the other world…"

"…Hyrule wasn't destroyed…", Link guessed in excitement "Is that correct!? Hyrule is still there in this other world? "

The tree nodded once again:

"This other Hyrule… was saved. "

Link sighed:

"At least…"

At least… not everything he achieved was in vain.

"It was the goddesses will itself...", the Dekutree stated "For both of this separate timelines to exist. One to continue the great legacy of the kingdom of Hyrule… and the other one to create a new legacy. And for Ganon to be finally defeated in both of them… but now…"

He paused shortly:

"…recently, I'm feeling how the fragile fabric of time is crumbling once again… I can sense how the dark powers are gathering once again, and may it only be slowly… And the walls, that separate times and dimensions are growing thinner every hour… This, of course, could be one explanation, how you got here…"

Once again, the Dekutree threw a short look at Kaze:

"But… how your soul could… Of course, that could only work, if my conclusions were completely wrong. Otherwise, you could never exist side by side with this boy…"

"But… I can ONLY exist side by side with him!!", Link suddenly stated. "If I separate from him, I disappear!"

"Is that so?", the Dekutree asked in surprise „If it is like this… This is truly mysterious…"

"…you have no explanation?"

"No, not one."

Link frowned in disappointment. Not even the Dekutree knew what was going on with him…

"Great Dekutree…", Link finally asked "…since you're still here… Please tell me… what happened to the other Kokiri?"

A begging look was in the boys eyes:

"Please… no matter what it is.. I just want to know, please!"

"The Kokiri… Ho ho!"

The Dekutree suddenly burst into deep laughter, much to Link's confusion. That was, when the guardian-spirit reverted back to the language of the great sea:

"Makar! Hollo!! Would you please come here for a moment?"

"Huh?", Kaze, who could once again understand what was being said, listened up:  
"Makar is here?"

He ran up to Toki and really: The two Koroks, Makar, sage of the wind, and the potion-maker Hollow both came floating down from the tree-tops, right down to the boy's feet.

"Here we are, great Dekutree!", Hollo said in a humble manner.

Makar, on the other hand, had already caught notice of an old friend before him:

"Oh, Link! It's a pleasure to meet you again!"

"The pleasure is all mine, Makar!", Link stated, smiling and bowing down a bit:

"Say, shouldn't you be in the temple?"

"I am going there once a week to pray and take a look at the seal.", he explained. "But now that peace reigns, my prayers aren't needed permanently and it would only be lonely to stay down there all the time."  
"Ah, of course!", Link nodded. "If the Dekutree knows about it, I guess it's alright!"

"And… who's this young man?", Makar finally asked, referring to Toki. "He's looking a lot like you…"

"Yeah, I know…"

Meanwhile, Toki was staring at the little Koroks:

"You seem… familiar…! Very familiar, actually…"

He turned back at the Dekutree again:

"Great Dekutree! Are those--"

"Those children are the descendants of the Kokiri. They are their new form. A form, in which they can travel without being scared of leaving the forests any longer!"

"Oh! I see!"

Toki smiled:  
„So… none of them died in the flood?"

The Dekutree nodded:  
"Not a single one."

Toki bowed down to the little people:

"Wow… that's quite a change…"

A big, happy grin appeared on his face:

"OK… so, if one of you guys happens to be related to a certain Mido…"

"Uhm… yes?"

"…just tell him, that he was right about Link not being a Kokiri! Ha ha!"

The two Koroks just exchanged clueless looks:

"Uhm… well… OK…."

"Oh! Now I remember why this word seemed to familiar!", Kaze suddenly stated " 'Kokiri…' Sage Fado's spirit told me, that he was a Kokiri, when I asked him why he looked like a child! Of course, I had no clue what he was talking about, ha ha! Hm… I think he even mentioned you…"

"Hey, I remember Fado!", Toki exclaimed „He was one of the few once, who never made fun me! He's always been a bit shy… but he was a very, very nice guy!... He became a sage as well?"

Link smiled:

"Just like Saria… "

He then, once again, looked around in interest:

"Ah… It's good to know this place does still exist…"

Kaze watched the other boy in interest. Of course, that explained why Fado had been dressed so similar to him… The hero of time lived among Fado's people. And why he was smiling, when they met in the temple… Did he remember him on this other boy? It seemed like they had been good friends…

Link smiled.

It was so good to see that the other Link could be as happy as this as well.

_--Note--_

_Yeah, I'm a splittist. Come on, kill me. XD_

_It's just the ONLY way, how to make sense of the gigantic snarl that is the Legend of Zelda continuity! And, besides, Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto themselves supported this theory._

_As you may have noticed, the Princess Zelda in the beginning of the chapter is quite obviously not Tetra. So, where, in a Wind-Waker fanfiction, did this scene come from?_

_Hmm… maybe this fanfiction isn't as much a Wind-Waker one as you think? And the sleeping adult Link on a bed… ^-^ He he…_

_OoT Link meet Deku Tree. Cue heartwarming reunion… at least I hope it came across as this…_

_I just hope a Kid hugging a tree is not too creepy of an image in your heads. Just imagine him being a hippy, OK? I mean, he does wear unconventional clothes after all! XD_

_Read carefully, and you might notice the dissonance in the Dekutree's story that caught OoT Link's attention. ;-) Going to be an important plot-point._

_I support the theory that the Kokiri became the Koroks. Still. Poor Kokiri._


	12. Monsters and Melodies

Chapter11:

Monsters and Melodies

"La la lalalala la lalala lala la lala la la"

Kaze felt a little bit left out, as he watched Toki and Makar making music together. Without the Wind Waker, there was little he could contribute to that, except quietly humming along with the song. Of course, he knew that song by heart: It was the Wind God's Aria, the second half of the Song which preserved the Master Sword's Power. One half of the song, which kept Ganon's soul sealed inside his dead body under the ocean…

At least, he hoped so.

The Ocarina of Time and the Wind God's Violin were in perfect Harmony as the two young ones played the song, making it seem like the instruments were made to be played alongside each other. As Kaze hummed along with the melody, he found himself suddenly laughing a little bit.

The other boy… Toki was smiling so gleefully, when Kaze first met that other boy, he never thought that he could also show such a joyful side. Apparently, he just now managed to forget the things that had been troubling him all along for the first time.

But… still, now there was something that was troubling Kaze:  
"I wonder, how we'll get off the island…", he finally thought aloud "We don't have a ship or boat anymore."

"Hmm… That might be a slight problem, yes.", the Dekutree, who listened, agreed.

Kaze turned at him:

"Can't you help us somehow?"

"Saddly, no. I might be able to grant the Koroks the ability to fly across the oceans, but it is impossible t me to do the same for creatures as heavy as humans…"

"Oh…"

But suddenly, Kaze had an idea:  
"Wait… But what's about a fairy? Would a fairy get tired from trying to reach the next island all by itself?"

Making a gesture that looked like it was supposed to resemble the shaking of ones head, the Dekutree explained:

"No. The flight of a fairy consumes barely any of it's energy. They can keep flying for months without ever tiring."

"HA!"

The little boy gleefully turned to a confused-looking Eyne:

"Eyne, you're our salvation!!"

"M-Me?... Fly over to the… next island? All… alone?!"

The little fairy was clearly not pleased over this thought.

"B-But…"

"Not necessary the next island! You'll just circle the island for a while, until you find somebody, how can pick us up! Easy!"

Toki, who had just finished his duet with Makar and was putting the Ocarina of time away, agreed:  
"Hey, that's actually a pretty good idea!"

"But… But…"

Even though her stuttering rendered her unable to end the sentences, it was painfully obvious that she was meaning to say something along the lines of "I'M SCAAAARED!!!"

Kaze started begging:

"Com'on! You did make it to Outset all by yourself, didn't you? You can do it!"

"Navi would have done it.", Toki pointed out.

"But… I ca—what if—I…"

Eyne swallowed…

It was no use. The boys had really no other option than to ask her to do it, so they likely wouldn't just stop begging until she did…

"O…OK… I'm... I'm off then…"

Slowly, she moved into the direction of the forest:

"I-I'm…back … soon… Hopefully… Uhmmm…"

She still hesitated… until starting a sudden spurt, leaving the glade in a matter of seconds.

"Well… she'll find a boat eventually… I guess.", Kaze hoped.

"She's kind of a cucco, don't you think?", was Toki's opinion "Navi was much braver than that. Not even Tatl, who was mostly talk, was ever that scared of such a simple task! Why'd the fairy-queen send us such a cowardly fairy?"

"Maybe the fairies are a little understaffed at the time?"

"But… I still find that weird… Fairies are usually absolutely reliable…"

Kaze had to think about this statement for a moment. Toki was actually right… He had never seen a fairy that was that easily to scare before. Of course, he never knew any other fairies as good as Ciela, Leif and Neri, but still… Even when Ciela neighter had nor knew of her powers, she still would have never been afraid of going ahead alone. Then again… Ciela was a spirit of courage and didn't really count.

But, on the other hand, Toki said so too and he had been growing up with fairies all around him, so…

The forest's silence was suddenly disturbed by a high-pitched shriek:

"IEEEEEKKK!"

"Eyne!"

Kaze and Toki both jumped up. This was her voice, no doubt.

Something must have happened.

"Oh no!!"

Shortly looking back at the two Koroks and the Dekutree, who all three nodded, the boys didn't lose any more time and ran out into the forest again.

Eyne was helpless.

She hadn't come too far yet, when monsters had surrounded her. A whole dozen monsters.

"H-Hey… N-Not like this… Leave me be!!!", she shouted, but at the same time she was frozen because of dear.

What now?

A Dekubaba tried to bite her…

"HA!"

A loud and fearless voice sounded through the woods, as a sharp, fast boomerang cut of the evil plant's head with a clean line. The thrower caught his weapon:

Link –Kaze.

"Hey! Pick on someone of your size!"

"Exactly!", Toki nodded "Do you need to pick on small girls because you can't take on real men, or what?"

Immediately, the monsters choose to ignore Eyne and attacked the two boys, who took their weapons and fought with all their power and skills.

But, for some reason, whenever they slew a monster, a new one appeared… and another… and another, another, another, another…

"It's no use!!", Kaze shouted after some time "We're screwed once they got us all worn out! We gotta get away from here!"

"Where to?! Back tot he Dekutree? No way! We can't lead those beasts to Makar and Hollo!", Toki objected.

Kaze quickly repelled an Octoroc who attacked him from behind with the blunt side of his sword:

"UGH! Where do they even keep coming from?! There's gotta be a nest or something nearby…"

Meanwhile, Eyne was trying to get to the sidelines, off the battlefields, which prove to be very difficult to downright impossible because of the number of the monsters.

When she thought she was finally save, a Dekunut suddenly came flying straight into her face with the force of a straight arrow.

"AH!"

DONK.

Toki's shield guarded her from the nut.

"Are you alright?"; the boy asked the fairy.

She was still shivering all over:

"Uhm… Yes… Thank you…"

"Sorry for sending you out all alone.", Toki said "Come on, hide under my cap, you're save there!"

"Ok…"

Eyne quickly disappeared under the green Kokiri-cap, while the Monter's continued to become more and more…

"Uhh…"  
The Boys couldn't do much more anymore than to back off… until Toki got an idea:

"This way!!"

He packed Kaze by his arm and started running, the Monster's, however, followed them right away.

They crossed the rotten bridge (Kaze prayed that it would carry them, but not the monsters, but his prayers weren't granted: It, surprisingly, carried all of them, including the 2 dozen monsters) and ran through the ruined Kokiri village, where they jumped up a few steppes, ran past a few trees…

And ended up at the edge of a cliff.

"Wha--- What happened to the Lost Woods?!", Toki shouted slightly shocked.

"Uhm… I guess you're talking about the _forbidden_ woods…"

Kaze pointed out his finger to a tiny island, just about 50 meters away from the cliff, which housed a wildly growing forest that covered all of it completely.

Nervously, Toki started sweating:

"It… drifted away? I didn't know that… But… But we can't go back anymore now! They'll get us! How do we get over there now?"

"I got one of the Dekutree's leaves, to glide over…", Kaze explained "But… I don't think it can carry both of us!"

"A Deku-Leaf, huh?..."

Toki started looking around and finally spotted a big, pink flower on the ground.

"And that's a Deku-Flower!"

"Yes, I guess so…"

Kaze didn't understand, how that was supposed to help them and he already heard the monsters drawing closer:

"Uh! They're coming! What now?"

He longed into his bag, for his Deku-Leaf, even though he still had know idea how to get the other boy over to the Forbidden Woods… But this other boy apparently already had his own plan.

Uneasy, he made a face and sighed:

"Actually, I hoped I'd never ever have to do this again, but…"

In surprise, Kaze looked up:

Toki was holding a mask made of wood in his hand, that looked like it was the face of some kind of forest-imp….

What was he planning to do with this?"

"Step back, Kaze!"

"Uhm… OK…"

He did like told. And then, Toki put on the mask.

The next thing Kaze heard was a terrifying scream, so loud and horrible, that he had to cover his ears in order to bear it and he even closed his eyes out of surprise.

When he opened them again…

The other boy was gone.

But a little, wooden imp was standing by his feet, wearing…

A green cap?!

"T-Toki?!"

"Quick, we gotta hurry!!"

The little creature's voice was high pitched and trembled with every word, but you could still hear clearly the sound of Toki's voice within it.

Kaze couldn't believe his eyes.

The Other-Link-Turned-Deku jumped into the blossom of the pink flower, plucked some of it's petals, jumped of the cliff…

And safely glided over to the other side.

Still not quite sure what was going on, Kaze just did the same as the little creature, using his Deku-Leaf.

He looked back the Forest Haven's cliff:

The Monsters, who had realized that the boys had gotten out of their reach, were slowly leaving the place one after another.

In relieve, Kaze took a deep breath, as he found solid ground under his feet again, landing on the cliff of the Forbidden Woods. He folded the Deku Leaf back together and put it away again.

Deku-Link had long arrived. He ran over to the still Hylian boy:

"You're alright?"

Kaze looked down at him:

"Shouldn't I rather be the one asking that… Toki?"

His voice still sounded unsure while saying that.

"Hm? What do you mea… Oh!"

Deku-Link quickly put his hands onto his face, like he was trying to pull something off, as a bright light flashed up. As it disappeared again, the young Daku had been replaced by the Hylian Link, Toki, again.

"Ahh… I just hate doing this…"

"This… mask…?"

This wasn't even a complete question, but Kaze wouldn't have been able to formulate the question he had in his mind, he was just too baffled about what just happened, whatever that may actually be.

But Toki didn't seem to share the awe. He just held his hand to his forehead, looking like he had a server headache:

"Please… let's agree to never talk about this again, OK?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Please… just let it be…"

Puzzled, Kaze tried to understand just why Toki was acting like that... That's when he remembered, how horribly the boy had screamed upon putting on the mask. Did it really hurt that incredibly much? Or was it less the pain than the… shock?

He probably really shouldn't ask Toki any more questions about this. He quite obviously wasn't in the mood to talk about this weird mask, so it was probably for the best to just leave him in peace.

Once again, Kaze had to remember himself whom he had with him here:

The hero of time. The boy who saved a whole kingdom from Ganon's iron fist.

And now, he had this mask…

What kind of story could have been behind this strange accessory? Where there any more things about his story that he didn't tell them back at the campfire?  
Somehow, Kaze thought that it was probably not too bad that he didn't knew what was the deal with that mask… Maybe this story was just too horrible to be told…

Toki, however, was unusually quiet now, probably because of the exhaustion…. And so, the two boys entered the forbidden woods without as much as a sigh.

Eyne now carefully emerged from the boy's cap again and looked quite unsettled, as she saw the dark forest around them.  
Kaze knew, that this place was by no means any safer than Forest Haven: It was home to many dangerous creatures and malevolent, poisonous plant-beasts. Even the Koroks feared this place.

But Toki seemed to be sure about what he was doing.

However, after looking around for a few minutes, he finally stated:

"Wow, this place has gotten even scarier…"  
Curious, Kaze asked:

„Say, if you do know that this part of the Forest isn't really the nicest place around, why did you want us to flee here than?"

"Well, we couldn't just lead them to the Deku Tree, could we?", Toki stated "And we can search refuge in the temple, now that it's curse is lifted… I hope."

„There's a temple around here?", Kaze asked in interest "I didn't notice that last time I was here!"

"Are you talking about the Forest Sage's sanctuary?", Eyne asked with even greater interest than Kaze.

"Exactly. And if I'm right, we should be save from the monsters there. The only problem is to find it…"

"Does that mean, you don't know where it is?", Kaze asked surprised.

Toki shook his head:

"The way there leads through an enchanted labyrinth. If you don't follow the exact route, you start running in circles and get eventually caught by a curse which can do a wide variation of things to you… hey, don't worry!", he quickly added when he saw Kaze's shocked face upon hearing the word "curse". "Adults succumb to it sooner than children and the curse doesn't have any effect when you have a fairy with you… and I guess the Triforce would protect us from it as well. But we can still get lost there. My friend Saria was the only one who knew the way through the labyrinth by heart. She was always the one to lead everyone else through or guide us by playing on her Ocarina, so we could follow the sound."

Kaze didn't seem to be pleased by the possibility of getting lost in an enchanted forest:

"But… I once heard somewhere that fairies can see through illusions or something… can't Eyne guide us through that Labyrinth?"  
But upon her name was mentioned, little Eyne screamed a short "WAK!" and fleed under Toki's head again.

"Eyne? After what just happened? Unlikely.", Toki just told Kaze „And she's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer… no offence!"

"It's OK…", the fairy's scared voice whispered from underneath the cap.

Toki continued:

"Even Navi had problems to navigate through that Labyrinth and that's saying something. She didn't get her name for nothing, you know? The spell that lies on that part of the forest is way stronger than anything that a simple Forest Fairy's magic could break!"

"Oh well…", Kaze sighed.

So they had to fight through a… big…. enchanted… even cursed…Labyrinth… with nothing but a cowardly fairy by their side….

Oh joy.

They continued their way, but, luckily, they weren't attacked by any more monsters. Finally, they got to the Labyrinth.

"Well, now we'll see if I can still figure out the way…", Toki stated unsure.

Once again, Kaze stayed a little skeptical:  
"After 1000 years?"  
"Well, I can try!"

But the sound in Toki's voice unmistakably meant that he had not the slightest clue, where they had to go.

They were screwed.

At least that's what Kaze thought… When he suddenly heard music.

A short melody. 2 times 3 notes. On an Ocarina.

„Huh? Do you really think that now's the time for making music?", Kaze asked Toki without even looking at him but got a confused answer:

"But… that wasn't me! I didn't even get my Ocarina out!"

"Huh?!"  
The two boys stood still.

There was that Melody again.

3 notes, twice repeated…

"I know that song…"; Toki whispered:

"I heard that song… so often…"

_Link…_

Kaze looked up in surprise:

"Did you hear that just now?!"

Toki nodded:  
"That voice…"

_Link… come here…_

_Follow the music, just like back then… please…_

Suddenly, the melody started once again. But now, it didn't stop anymore. The full song now played.

"Wait!", Kaze listened up "Isn't that one of the songs Aryll played on the festival?"

"No! It's more than just that!"  
Toki stepped forward:  
„I'm such an idiot… how couldn't I notice… That's Saria's Ocarina!! That's her song!!"  
"Saria?"

"Follow me!!"

Toki ran after the sound of the music and Kaze and Eyne followed quickly.

Really: The music got louder and louder the farther the ran. Finally, they came to an opening in the forest…

There were ruins.

Kaze wanted to look around a bit, but Toki just took a quick, reassuring glance at everything and then continued his way into the remains of the old building. Kaze followed.

The building was surprisingly big on the inside, but the deeper they went inside, the louder the song got.

"We're almost there!", Toki said.

"I hope so…", Kaze added… an unsettling feeling had befallen him…

And not without a reason…

They finally reached a large door made of stone, sealed by an emblem.

Toki pressed his ear against it and listened:

"The music's coming from in there…"

"But how do we get in?", Kaze asked.

"Hmm… here's a hole… Maybe we have to put something inside?"

"Something…", Eyne became nervous: "Something's coming!"

"Huh?"

Just as she finished the sentence, something fell down from the ceiling with a loud crash.

The boys turned around and were shocked, when they suddenly found a giant larva before them, which screamed and growled at them and hit all around.

Kaze jumped back a step:

"Didn't you claim the temple was safe now?!"  
"I… I thought the sages were protecting it!", Toki shouted in surprise over the wrongness of this believe

"Watch out!" Kaze shouted as, the tail of the creature hit for them with a hard strike, which they could just barely escape in the very last moment.

"Oh, come on!" the hero of time suddenly stated "Shouldn't we be able to handle that thing without problems?! It's just a larva!"

"Yeah."

Kaze nodded, but added:

"It's pretty, freakin' GIANT larva, which squishes us to death if we even get anywhere near it!"  
"Point taken!"

Yet another strike with the big beasts tail, the boys had to dodge.

This could have gone on the whole day like this…

Eyne finally flew up and took a look around the whole area:  
"All exits are blocked!", she screamed in panic.  
"The usually…", Toki sighed "We'll have to go into the offensive now!"

"But how do we reach?"

"We can try arrows!"

Immediately, the boys pulled out their bows. Kaze was the first to shot his arrow… which bounced off the elastic body of the monster.

"Well, let's try THIS than!"

Toki put away the bow again and pulled out his Hookshot instead, aiming for the larva. It bounced off as well.

"Darn…"  
"And this?!"

Kaze grabbed his Boomerang and threw it against the monster with all his might. It came back without achieving the slightest bit of damage.

Toki was boiling with rage:  
"ARGH! I've HAD IT with that thing! DIN'S INFERNO!!"

"Uhm… what?... WOAH!!!"

Kaze could just jump aside in the very last moment when he realized that his dear friend had just unleashed a wave of raging flames, with which he was apparently planning to roast the larva to a crisp. This time, Eyne fled under Kaze's cap for once...

Finally, the immense heat stopped and Kaze sighed:  
"Aww… why can you do a cool fire-spell and I not?"

"'Cause I'm older! Haha!", Toki stated cheecky. „Well, we're rid oft he monster in any ca-„

In this moment, the smoke cleared up…

They'd been wrong.

The Larva was without even a SCRATCH. Somehow, it even seemed angrier than before.

Toki opened his eyes widely:

"WHAT THE… OK, now I'm officially running out of ideas!!"

"AAAAAHHH!!! STUPID BUG!! We have no time for this!! GO AWAY!!"

Kaze looked like he was about to explode, which was ironical, due to what he was just then pulling out of his bag:

His Bombbag. With Bombs, of course.

Which he started… uhm, "Throwing" would be putting it a bit too mildly…

"DIE, DIE, DIE!!!!!"

„DID YOU LOSE IT!?!?", Toki screamed, as he ( and Eyne, who was hiding under his… do I even need to say?) was hiding behind a rock.

When the noise of the explosives finally stooped, he carefully came back out from his hiding-place…

Kaze was standing there, breathing heavily and sweating, while the larva…

…Well, it was pretty dead. I'm not going into the details.

"Wooohw…"

Toki stepped foreward:

"And _you _are surprised when I'm using fire-magic?"

"I don't usually overdo it like that…", Kaze sighed. "But we haven't got any time for this nonsense! Heck, Tetra could be out there, _dying_, while we are stuck here!"

The fear in his voise was not easy to miss…

"Hey, Hey, Hey, look at this!"

Eyne came out from under Toki's cap and flew to the…. Remains… of the larva. She pointed at some kind of green stone:

"Doesn't that look like it'd fit in the hole? Hm?"

"Hmm."

The two Links looked at the stone, nodded at each other and finally, Toki stepped forward, took the stone, went to the stone-door and inserted it.

The emblem lit up brightly and slowly, the stone door rose up…

They reached a room, with an altar, which carried the very same emblem as the door.

The music finally stopped…

"And.. now?", Kaze asked, while Toki looked at the altar puzzled.

"I don't know…"

While they were still thinking, I voice suddenly echoed through their minds…

_Link… Do you remember the song, Link?"_

"Huh."

Kaze looked up in surprise… he remembered… One of the girls in the dream he had a few days ago… Didn't she say just the same?

That dream, where his voice had been so different…

…That's, when he realized…

The voice in the dream, that had been his…

Of course it had been different… It had been Toki's!

That's why everybody in that dream still called him Link! That dream had been about… him… the other Link.

Did this dream show him… some of Toki's memories?

But… why?! That didn't make any sense! He haden't even been there yet, when Kaze had that dream… That happened before he used the baton to play that song, not afterwards! For his whole life, he didn't have any dreams at night and then, suddenly, he had somebody elses dreams? Somebody else, who wasn't even alive at that point? How could that been?

While Kaze's head filled more and more with questions of how and why exactly he had been dreaming of the Hero of Time and even been the Hero of time in that dreams, said Hero had already stepped forewards and started talking to the altar:

"Saria… Saria, I do! I do remember the song! I never forgot it, like I promised!", he shouted "Saria, I'm back home!!"

But the voice didn't answer.

Eyne came forth:

"You're… trying to reach the sage of this temple, aren't you, huh?"

Toki stayed silent.

"Maybe… it would help if you played this song she mentioned for her?"

"Her song…"

"I don't know…", Eyne said "But somehow, I just think, she wants you to play the song… why else would she have asked, if you still remember it?"

She drifted off into utter imagination then:

"... Maybe… it is like a fairy-tale, you know? Yes! The beautiful girl is sleeping and only the thing held most dearly by her can awaken her again!!"

"Awaken… Saria…?"  
This sounded rather familiar…

But was worth trying.

Toki nodded.

He took the Ocarina of Time and started to slowly play the song.

And soon, the Melody started sounding from the altar again as well and that even louder and more cheerfully than before…

The emblem started to shine in a bright, green light, which flooded through the whole room:

_Link!_

_You… came back…_

_You returned…_

_Finally… hee hee hee…._

Suddenly, a weird atmosphere filled the room and the light shone even brighter. It started to cover and surround everyone and everything and the two boys had to cover their eyes in order to not get completely blighted by it.

When the opened their eyes again…

"Hee Hee… I missed you, Link."

"Saria!"

_--Note_

_Majora's Mask elements ahoi!_

_Ah, who doesn't love baleful transformations? :-D _

_I do!_

_I also love Saria, but that should be obvious by now. XD_

_The "strategy" the boys use against the larva boss-monster mirrors my default-strategy in Zelda Boss-Battles: Zap through all the items first and, to quote a certain old man…_

"_IF ALL ELSE FAILS USE FIRE"_

_Or bombs. Lots and lots of bombs. XD_

"_Die, Die, Die" is a quote by me, while fighting… uhm, Armogohma in Twilight Princess, I think. XD_

_Next Chapter is highly concentrated Exposition. Good luck trying to not fall asleep. XD_


	13. The Link's circle

Chapter12:

The Link's circle 

"Saria…"

There she was.

The little Kokiri girl with the green, short hair and the vivid eyes. And she hadn't aged a single day since back then. She stood before him, illuminated by the bright light, which filled out the whole area. In her hands, she held the wooden Fairy Ocarina. And she smiled.

Saria, sage of the forest, smiled at him:

"Link… I knew you'd come."

"Saria. What's going on? Why'd you call me?"

The girl closed her light green eyes and told him:

"When Hyrule was sealed beneath the waves, we sages became part of that seal. We strengthen it with our power, in order to restrain every last of Ganon's efforts to break it with his magic. With Hyrule, we sealed away ourselves as well to awaken again on the day that Hyrule would rise from the oceans… but when that hope was lost, the seal became permanent. We were very aware of the possibility of having that happen, so every one of us left behind a single other way for you to break our seals. My choice was the song that I used to play. You see, I needed you to remove the seal here, in the temple's deepest sanctuary, in order to awaken again, but wasn't able to send you more than a vague plea for help, Link."

"Wait… whom of us are you saying this?"

Saria giggled:

"You really don't know? Well… just look around yourself!"

That's when Link realized, that he was alone… There was no other boy in green tunics beside him anymore:

"Hey! Where'd—"

He couldn't continue the sentence… Somehow, he didn't manage to say the nickname. It just didn't come out of his mouth…

"You don't know which word you must use, do you?"

Saria kept smiling warmly:

"You think, that somebody should be missing, but you don't feel like anybody was missing, am I right?"

Link hesitated… then nodded slowly.

"Then… which of those two words you choose would you use for yourself right now?"

"Uhhm…"

He couldn't answer. He just couldn't. It was like his brain was blocking out the answer.

Something felt very weird… so he checked himself…

Yeah, he was still a blonde, green-clad, young boy with sword and shield… Still the weird feeling wouldn't go away. He indeed didn't feel like anyone or anything went "missing"… it was more like something had been "added"…

Saria slowly approached him:

"Link… don't be scared now, OK? Just tell me… what do you remember… of yourself. Who are you?"

"I'm—"

Link's eyes suddenly grew wide, when he realized what the source of the weird feeling was:

When he tried to remember back… his mind responded in two different ways.

He remembered being a little boy in the Kokiri forest… and a little boy on Outset Island.

He remembered playing with Saria and the other Kokiri… he remembered playing with Aryll and the other children.

He remembered the Ocarina of Time's songs… he remembered the songs of the Wind Waker.

He remembered the fair Princess Zelda of Hyrule… he remembered the pretty Princess of Pirates, Tetra.

He remembered seeing this other boy's shocked face in this unfamiliar room one morning…

Remembered seeing this other boy's shocked face in his own room one morning…

"B-Both…", he replied with much hesitation: „I remember being… both… how… Saria?! What happened?! Am I…"

„Both of the boys."

She smiled with closed eyes and tilted head.

"This is true. United within you are now both of the two young ones who entered the sanctuary."

"But… why?! Why did you do this?! And how?"

And Saria sunk her head… before looking up again, right into his eyes:

"Link… I… we all we… We all knew, you'd come back one day. Because that is part of your destiny. You will always come back… as long there is evil threatening the creation of the golden goddesses… no matter how long it may take, you will always return. This part of the prophecy that named you the hero."

"I don't understand!", he just stated in confusion. "Saria…"

"Link… didn't you… you two boys… weren't you surprised about how much you resemble each other? Not just physically, but also your personalities?"

He nodded:

"Yes, of course, but…"

"That's because at the very core of your souls, you are the same."

Her look became more serious; her eyes now almost pierced his:

"Link… in reality, you were never two different people.", she said. "The two boys you're perceiving yourself as… are just two variations of the same. You are both incarnation of the warrior, that the goddess Farore choose in the name of her glorious courage. You're the same person."

"W-WHAT?!"

Link fell to the ground, as he heard those words, having to look up at Saria now. Did his heart just stop, or accelerate? He couldn't tell! But he was breathing slowly and his body felt like it was as heavy as iron.

How was this possible? Was Saria trying to trick and scare him? But she was his friend… and a sage… She would never lie at him…

The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.

2 people could not be the same. That just wasn't possible!

Yet he felt those two different sets of memories within him and two slightly differing mindsets competing with each other with every thought he tried to think… Yet, it all still somehow worked, almost seamlessly…

What was going on with him?

"Hee Hee…", Saria giggled "I told you not to be scared, didn't I?"

"How am I supposed _not _to be scared?", he asked in excitement "Saria, you know, I'd always trust you, but how am I supposed to take this?! We… we are not different people? That can't be right! We are simmilar, yes, but not identical!...or… at least we didn't use to be…"

Once again, he looked down himself.

Just now he noticed, how all the features of the two different boys had been incorporated and melted seamlessly into his appearance… how did that happen?! Why did that happen?! Why, why, why?!

"You are two sides of one soul, two different sets of memories, that imprinted on that soul in two different ways, creating two slightly differing characters, yes.", Saria explained.

"But, in reality, the only true difference between you lies in your upbringing, your memories of your life and the people you met, and your bodies… And I took the freedom of lifting this thin barriers here, in this spiritual plane…"

"And I _still_ don't get it…", Link just mumbled. His thoughts were at complete Chaos, not even trying to line up in a logical manner within his mind and causing him to have a pretty bad headache.

"I thought you'd say that…", Saria nodded: "Then… would you mind if I told you a story?"

Link shock his head:  
"Just do it… Everything to clear this mess up…", he sighed exhausted.

Saria took a deep breath:

"Please listen exactly to what I tell you know, Link. This is about you… and Princess Zelda… and all of Hyrule."

"As you might know, the Triforce never had a way of differing between good and evil. Yet goddesses actually meant it to give prosperity to the people of their land… so they gave it to the royal family, who held it for the first few hundred years in secret. Nobody else knew about it, except the wise ones, the ancient sages, whom we descended from, and the king...

Quite soon, a king of Hyrule had a daughter, who soon came to be known as the most beautiful girl in the whole land. One of the ancient sages prophesied, that this girl, who held an ancient power, passed down from Princess to Princess, would play a crucial role in protecting the land from the forces of Darkness, that she would be one of warriors who would preserve the land's light. Because of this prophecy, the king called his daughter "Zelda" which means "She, who fights".

As Zelda grew up, she met the son of the royal blacksmith and the two of them quickly made friends with each other. The boy soon promised the beautiful girl, that he would always be protecting her from ever harm.

Princess Zelda also had an older brother, who was to be named king, as their father passed away. But the king, while still alive, had noticed how easily his son would give in to the temptation of abusing the golden power to grant his own, selfish wishes. So he broke it up into its fragments and handed two of them to his daughter, who, on her part, gave one of them to her dear friend. She now hid the Triforce of Wisdom, while her friend held the Triforce of Courage. And he had to promise her to not, at no cost, give it up to anyone, except her.

When the king's fears became true and the prince, just after his coronation, realized that Triforce was incomplete and tried to force his sister to give him the two missing parts, she stayed silent. A magician, whom the young king had called, finally, after long interrogations, cast a spell in the Princess. And so, she fell into eternal sleep.

Without the last piece of the Triforce, which was still missing after the prince found hers, the Spell could not be broken.

When her brother realized what he had done, he locked his sleeping sister away in a palace in the northern colonies and ordered, that every female in the royal family should be given her name from now on, in memory of her fate.

But the young princess's friend, now a young man, couldn't stand what happened to her, but he didn't dare to break the promise he gave her and surrender the Triforce of Courage to the king. He traveled the world in hope to find a way to free her from the curse, but, after everything failed, finally prayed to the gods in despair. He prayed to be able to help her, no matter what kind of sacrifice he'd have to bring.

The golden goddess Farore took a liking on the young man's courage and formed a bond with him.

The gods knew that soon Hyrule would be befallen by a horrible tragedy and would decay under the forces of evil, if nobody would stop it.

So the goddess bound the young man to her power and the power of her Triforce, while the goddess Nayru formed a bond with the soul of the sleeping Princess.

The young one became a warrior of the goddess and his childhood promise to Zelda became an obligation before the gods:

It became his destiny to protect the Princess and all the light she held from the forces that longed for it's destruction. The goddesses took the souls of the pleading young man and the sleeping Princess and bound them to return every time when needed, in new forms, as newborn children and they marked them with symbols, that should only show when it was the goddesses will to reveal the true nature of those children. Together, they should be Hyrule's last resort in the times of darkness.

In the name of the goddesses, the ancient sages forged a sword for their warrior, their hero, which only he would be able to use.

Finally, the goddesses took away the Triforce from the people of Hyrule, realizing that it was too soon for Hylian- and Humankind to use their power to this extend, and brought it back to the sacred realm, where it was formed and now slept for hundreds of years.

The hero and the Princess, however, where now obligated to follow their purpose of always guarding the goddesses creation, till the very day, that the people of Hyrule finally prove themselves pure enough and worthy of the Triforce again and the Hero could use it to awaken the true Princess in her true form once more. But until then, the two of them would not be able to leave this world anymore, bound to return over and over again, as long as there was evil in Hyrule…

"The descendants of the line of Royal Blacksmiths, the boy originated from, eventually became the royal knights of Hyrule. And many, many years later, the wife of the first general of the knights had a child… a boy…

War had befallen in the kingdom and she had to hide this boy in the forests, before finally passing away in peace.

That's where I met this boy, who carried the power of the goddess of courage… this boundless courage in his heart.

Do you understand, Link?

Link was holding his head, trying to process the information he's just been given… and slowly, it started to make a little sense:

"Now I get it…", thought aloud „When the great Dekutree said, that we weren't supposed to exist next to each other, he meant…"

Saria nodded:

"The same soul shouldn't be able to exist in two different bodies at the same time. Especially not like this. The memories of previous lives are usually put to sleep after that live ends, so that a new character can form, independent from every previous experience. But for some reason, two sets of memories are now active in two different bodies, with the same soul, next to each other. Why is that so? I'm ashamed to say: I have no idea."

Thinking with his two mindsets seemed to still be an exhausting task for Link, but he tried regardless:

"Could it be… because of… Zelda's Lullaby?"

"…The royal Lullaby?", Saria asked in surprise „Why?"

Link started gesticulating wildly:

"Well I… the newer me… did… I… me… he… two days ago… the Wind Waker… He… I mean, I…. conducted it, because Grandma… his grandma- no, my grandma… the newer ones grandma… she said, that this would… that the older me… he, errrmm I would…--- AHHH!!!"

Suddenly, Link had a breakdown. He fell into his knees and screamed in agony, as his brain felt like was bruning in the hotest flames… he couldn't think at all anymore.

"AAAARGHH!!!"

"Oh no!! LINK!!"

Saria had been incredibly calm all the time, but this calmness came to an end right now.

In shock, she quickly raised her hands:

"SEPARATE!!"  
With a suddenly flash of light, it was over…

Two boys lay on the ground, breathing heavily, sweating all over. She ran over to them:

"I'm so sorry!!", she almost cried: „I didn't want to hurt you! I thought uniting the mindsets wouldn't put such an incredible strain on you; I just wanted you to understand what I was trying to tell you! I believed you were alike enough to bear the bit of conflict… Oh Goddesses, Link, this was not supposed to happen… Are you alright?!"

She lay her hands on the boys, shoulders, who now slowly both opened their eyes again, standing up once more…

They stayed silent for about a minute, clearly rendered speechless by what just happened.

They could look at each other again… They were two separate beings once more.

Finally, Kaze opened his mouth:

"Were we two really…"

"… a single person just now…?... Yes.", Toki ended the sentence „Looks like it…"

"Wow…"

"Ahh…"

In relieve, Saria smiled:

"I apologize… I don't know what went wrong… if I had known this, I would not have done it to you… I hope, you can forgive me…"

"It's alright.", Kaze said „You didn't know. And I'm sure, if you wouldn't have done that, I would never have believed what you just told us… wow…"

Kaze tried to recall all those "new" memories that had been floating in his head just minutes ago, but he couldn't. They were all gone. And he knew, where they'd gone to…

Meanwhile, Toki was still trying to get his head clear again:

"But… there's one thing I still don't get: If he is me, reborn… That means that I must have died some time ago, right?"

Saria bit into her lip nervously:

"That issue is a bit complicated… But I guess, yes, you surely did die… sometime… otherwise, the soul would not have returned…uhm…"

"But I don't remember dying at all!"  
"…"

"…You do know what happened to me back then, right?"

Saria shock her head:

"Not completely… I know about the split in the flow of time… and that you were absent when Ganondorf escaped from our seal… But everything else…"

"Arrrgh…"

Disappointed, he sat down looked at the floor.

Kaze quickly threw him a look full of sympathy, before turning to Saria:

"Say… why are you even telling us all this? I mean, it's not like we could change anything about that right now and it's like you told us: Our memory will be wiped clean with the next reincarnation once more."

"Because the structure of time is starting to crumble.", Saria explained "And even though we are not sure, we suspect strongly that your old self from the great imprisoning war appearing here has something to with this. So knowledge of your true nature could be a crucial advantage in keeping it from completly collapsing."

"Saria.", Toki stood up again „When exactly did this start?"

"Roughly a week ago, around the 1000th jubilee of the closure of the door of time. We sages have no idea, how this did happen, but something or someone seemingly took advantage of this event and used the weak opening that was naturally revealed in the structure of time around that time to weaken it. That's when the walls started to crumble. We sages noticed this, but couldn't act because oft he seal, so I tried to send telepathic messages to you and the Great Fairy Queen. But, for some reason, I never could seem to quite reach you.

"Hmm… a week…", Kaze thought a bit "That's when I suddenly started having those dreams! I think, I saw you in that dreams… but you didn't especially stand out compared to everything else."

"Oh, I understand…", Saria said „The weakening of time's structure must have influenced you, by calling forth sleeping memories…Those leaking memories mixed with my calls and you weren't able to keep them apart… I didn't think about this… Well, you are here now. Link, please listen to me one last time."

Saria prepared to say more:

"The walls that separate worlds and ages will soon collapse, if it continues at this rate. And as this is happening, future, past, present and every parallel reality that exists within the goddesses' creation will slowly start to melt and eventually crash into each other. The results would be catastrophic:

People of past and presents, who are descended from each other and too similar in role might end up erasing each other or be blended into each other, like you two were just now, likely with even worse results on their minds. Then, this world's ocean would drown the blooming Hyrule of the past and the mountains of the past would cause the presents islands to decay and be destroyed… And that's just the beginning."

She paused, while the two Links exchanged nervous looks… this was sounding _bad_.

"And even if the order of time wouldn't be completely torn apart by this, which is very unlikely, the strain put on it would at least be enough to cause the other timeline to crash into this, with even worse results than the merging of past and present. Even if there are any survivors, Nayru's gift of wisdom and order to the world would dissappear and be lost for ever. Balance between the three goddesses' powers is what keep their creation together. If Nayru's gift is lost, the creation will decay and dissolve into mist in the nothingness in the middle of the Chaos this world originated from."

"Or, like Eyne would say for short: Apocalypse!", Toki stated in excitement.

Saria agreed:

"Yes, it would be the total destruction of the world as we know it."

"How can we stop it?", Kaze asked.

"We sages can try to repair the damage caused to the structure of time and space by using all of our powers, however, we first need to be awakened and assembled once again."

"So we got to find the temples, go into the sanctuaries and release the seals, right?"

Saria answered:

"Yes, but the seal on Impa has already been broken, even though I don't know, who did it."

"Huh? But… who could have done that?", Toki asked.

Kaze shrugged:

"Well, no matter who it was, let's hope he continues to help us like this. 4 more sages to go is still quite alot and time is running…"

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's get going!", Toki stated.

"But we've got no boat, remember?"

"Oh yes…"

Disappointed, he sat down on the ground again:

"That sucks."

"I know that you will find a solution.", Saria stated. "Because I believe in you, Link."

She smiled at her old friend, who blushed a little bit.

"Thanks, Saria…"

"Before you have to leave… Would play the song with me, Link?"

She looked at him in a pleading manner:

"Just one last time…"

He looked up and nodded:

"Of course!"

He pulled out his Ocarina and brought it to his mouth. Saria smiled and did the same.

They started playing the song.

La la la; La la la…

The two Ocarinas were playing in complete harmony.

This old, cheerful melody of the forest…

Finally, they stopped. Saria put away her Ocarina:

"Thank you… Link… You don't know how much I missed this…"

She smiled that warm, caring smile again, but it was obvious that she was hiding woe behind it:

"I'm … so happy we met again! Hee Hee!"

"You'll… stay here?", Toki guessed, apparently not pleased by that thought.

"I have to…", she stated. "Even though I'd like to stay with you a bit longer…"

"But… we'll meet again, some day, right?!", he asked.

"Some day, yes…", Saria said "But you might not remember me anymore then…"

"Nah, don't worry, I'll remember!", his voice sounded relaxed and he winked: "I won't just forget you, Saria. I promise!"

"Tee Hee…"

Saria laughed:

"I'm glad to see that you're still as optimistic as back then…"

She stepped back. The light started to fade:

"Then… till we meet again, Link"

"I'm looking forward to it, Saria!", he answered and reached out his hand for hers.

They touched for a short moment and he saw Saria smiling one last time, before the light finally disappeared, along with her.

_You must never lose your optimism, Link._

_-~-_

"How is he, your majesty?"

The girl carefully entered the room. There was deep woe in her voice and she only slowly approached the bed the young man was resting on.

"Nothing changed…", Princess Zelda replied sadly "Magic, Medicine… Nothing seems to work. If I just knew what happened to him, Ilia…"

She looked at the young girl next to her, but she tried not to look into the monarch's eyes, like she was feeling guilty for what happened:

"If I just could tell you, Princess… But he just… collapsed. We were on the meadows and were talking. Suddenly, he stopped and fell. That's what happened… nothing more… but…."

Ilia stopped for a few seconds:

"Maybe we should have worried more about those dreams…"

"Dreams?", Zelda asked in surprise.

"Yes.", Ilia answered: "Link told me, that he had been having a lot of nightmares lately. Nightmares, in which he was a young child and yet had to fight. He mentioned that you were there in this dreams as well, Princess…"

"Nightmares…", Zelda repeated with worries.

Ilias eyes turned at the ground:

"I knew that it can't mean anything good, when he dreaming things like this, but he wanted to stay optimistic, so he didn't take it seriously… "Oh come on, Ilia, we're at peace, what could possibly happen.", he told me…"

Zelda looked at Link's sleeping face:

"How weird… I, as well, am having nightmares lately… nightmares, in which I am a young girl… lost… and alone… waiting for somebody to come and help me…"

"Is that true, your majesty?", Ilia sounded nervous "Ahh… I mean, probably shouldn't ask you so personal things! I am very sorry… But I am so worried for Link! …Actually, I should be glad you permitted me to come here and stay with him…"

"It is alright, Ilia. You were the one to bring him here after all.", Zelda smiled warmly.

"But… now you are having this kind of dreams as well?", Ilia's voice was trembling: "What if you as well…"

"Don't worry about me, Ilia, I won't just collapse."

"I hope so… without you, the kingdom would… at times like this…"

Zelda nodded:

"We just have to keep hoping. We have to pray that Link will get better."

"I do…", Ilia agreed "But what if he doesn't? I'm so scared… What is happening to these lands?"

"Something very dangerous."

Zelda and Ilia turned their heads around, towards the third, new voice that had just joined the conversation:

A young woman with black and white skin and flaming red hair was, leaded by one of the royal maids, in the entrance of the room. She smiled:

"It's been quite some time, Zelda."

While Ilia just stayed silent in confusion, Zelda stood up and smiled surprised:

"Midna! But how-"

"Well, the reason I can be here is, sadly, not exactly a reason to smile, so we'll have to cut out on the welcome party.", the Twilight Princess explained to her friend.

"But now that I'm here, I have to--- HUH!"

Suddenly, Midna spotted the young man on the bed next to the two other women. In shock, she ran over to him:

"LINK!", she exclaimed in horror. "What is wrong with him?!"

"He's sleeping. And hasn't woken up for almost three days now." Zelda explained.

"Oh no…"

In disbelieve, Midna starred at the pale face of her sleeping friend:

"But… he was our only hope…"

"Midna, what is going on?", Zelda asked with a bad presentiment.

Midna quickly turned around at Zelda:

"We are in big trouble. All of us…

And I have no idea what we can do about it…"

_--Note_

_*singing to the tune of the eurpean anthem*_

_Exposition, Exposition~ ^^_

_Yeah, I know, way too much Backstory crammed into one chapter, but don't worry. Yes, there will be more Exposition Chapters like this one, but this is, by far, the worst of them. So, you can put the Espresso and the Red Bull away now. XD_

_Some might have noticed, but I tried to blend the Character's of "The Minish Cap" into the Back Story of "ZeldaII: The Adventures of Link", because I think that The Minish Cap is the first game of the Timeline. _

_Oh, and Link's total Mind-Screw just now? Won't be the last one, I found TONS of reasons to screw around with the boy(s)'s mind in that fanfiction! XD… OK, maybe not tons, but at least 2-3 more time something similar will happen again. Oh, I might want to mention that Link had no such breakdown in the original German version of the story, where he merely got a very bad headache and had Saria, still at calm "split" him again. I added the Breakdown here as foreshadowing for… future events—And I shouldn't say anymore, because that be HEAVY spoilers! XD_

_The mystery of the sleeping Link in Hyrule castle has been cleared up a bit!_

_Yes, this is the Twilight Princess Timeline and yes, Link has gone Sleeping Beauty. And yes, Princess Zelda is OK with Ilia, whom she never met in her life before, running around freely in the castle. And yes, I brought Midna back. And yes, there's romantic vibes towards Link from each of them. And no, I won't explicitly pair up any of them with Link! ;-P_

_They will, however, behave quite a lot like a Zelda-version of Charlie's Angels now for the next two dozen chapers. Link's Angels, yeay!!! XD_

_By the way, I just like to mention, although I'm very glad about every review, I especially like to read longer reviews, which point out certain scenes and comment on them, maybe even in a humorous way. Even when it leads into MSTing territory, I just LOVE reading other people's comments and takes on my imagination! XD_

_OK, read ya soon!^^_


	14. Interlude and Dialogue

Chapter 13:

Interlude and Dialogue

"Hey! Guys! Guys, are you alright? Come on, talk to me, please!!"

"Uhm…?"  
When they heard the fairy's voice, the boys opened their eyes.

They still were within the sanctuary, right before the big stone altar. And Eyne was floating in the air before them, obviously very relieved:

"Guys...?"

"We're alright, Eyne…", Kaze stated. He was still a little dizzy because of what happened, but quite fine otherwise. And Toki nodded agreeing.

Eyne sighed gladly:

"Wheew… I was sooo~ worried, you know? There was this weird, weird girl for a short moment and suddenly, you weren't doing anything anymore, except talking to yourself! And then, you were all synched up while doing that! Every move, ever word every move of your eyes, all the same! That was so very, very creepy! I thought something went wrong!"

She sounded almost like crying.

But Toki just laughed:

"Hehe, don't worry, we're fine! Saria… the sage just wanted to talk to us one on one!"

"Huh?"

Eyne seemed slightly confused:

"One… on one? But you're two… hm?"

"Oh, yeah…"

Toki remembered that Eyne had no clue what just happened, since she probably didn't pick up a lot from their seemingly random rambling while "All synched up".

"Should we explain it to her?"

Kaze shrugged:

"How if we don't quite get it ourselves?"  
„What, what, what?", Eyne asked, floating up and down like a bouncing rubber ball. "Come on, what did the sage tell you, huh, huh, huh?!"

"Uhm…"

"Well, you see…"

---- 20 Minutes and a heck lot of Exposition you all already know now later ---

Eyne whistled in awe:

"Wooow… you are… two incarnations of one person? That sounds very cool!"

"I think it's very weird…", Kaze stated „If if that does explain a lot… where I got my talent for sword play from, for example… You know, Orca always claimed my father was horrible with weapons. Also, why I suddenly developed that weird obsession for this clothes once I wore them. It was so strange: Every time I thought about switching them for different ones, something held me back. Now I know what that was: That "something" was you!"

For some reason, he threw Toki a reproachful look, but Toki just crossed his arms without any guilt:

"Kokiri clothes are easy to wash, comfortable and looking neat!"

"Is the skirt looking neat as well in your eyes?", Kaze asked teasing.

"It's a TUNIC!"

"YEAH, try explaining _that_ to the people who always give me the weird looks when I pass by in that stuff!"

Now it was Kaze who crossed his arms:  
"And you know what the irony is? I saw a girl Kokiri just now. And she was wearing _pants._"

"I liked the tunic better! It seemed much cooler to me!"

"_Cooler?_"

"Sorry for growing up in a forest and not being informed about the newest trends, OK?!"

"Ehem…"

Eyne tried to draw the two fighting parties attention towards herself:

"Uhm, excuse me, but don't you think that we've got much, much more important things to worry about now? Saving the world from Apocalypse, for example! It's just my opinion, but I'd really, really rather hurry up now, please!"

"…"

The two boys alternately looked at each other and at Eyne, before bursting into laughter:

"Ha Ha!! Now we're getting really silly… we're fighting over something as unimportant as the tunic?", Kaze asked.

"Hey, it was you who started!", Toki just answered.

They boys tried to focused again and finally nodded at each other.

"Let's get out of here first!"

"Alright."

They left the temple and ran back to the cliff.

"I… I still can't believe it…", Kaze finally said, when they were already near the exit of the woods:

"I am… the one who saved Hyrule a thousand years ago… that was me! I am you!"

"So what?", Toki asked with a shrug: „You did accomplish quite a few things in this epoch yet as well, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course, but that about you, that's an ancient legend! That has such a… mysterious touch to it…"

He looked up to the tops of the trees:

"I always thought that I was just a kid, who had yet not seen too much of the world… But now, I find out, that I've already been around for… ages… and that I actually saw much more than I thought… awesome. I just wish, I could remember it all…"

Toki pat him on the shoulder, but sighed:  
"Oh… be careful what you wish for, OK? Some things… There are things you don't want to have seen…"

A short silence. Kaze didn't know… Should he ask now, or rather not…? Finally, he decided to do it:

"And... those things… Have something to do with the mask from before, right?"

Toki quickly looked up:

„I-i told you not to talk about that anymore!"

„But I want to know!", Kaze demanded: "You are me, so it's my right to know what happened back then! And maybe we can find out how you died if you tell me everything that happened after you left Hyrule!"

"Is it really _that_ important to you?!"

"_YES!"_

"…"

"Come on, please!!"

"I…"

"Please!!"

Toki hesitated for another few seconds… Finally, he gave in. He looked to the floor and whispered:  
"I was out in the woods at the outskirt of Hyrule, searching for Navi, when I got distracted by a pair of fairies. They and a Skullkid from the Lost Woods knocked me unconscious and robbed me… I followed them to this strange place, I never saw before and demanded to get my stuff and my horse back, but they put a curse on me. However, there was an accident and one of the fairies, Tatl, got separate from the two others. She tagged along with me, to get back to them, and we went out, traveling all over this place, Termina… and there we saw… horrible things…"  
He paused a moment:

"There were cursed people…people suffering in inhuman ways… a man who had been half transformed into a gibdo… a bride, who was waiting for her groom and knew that they'd both die… a girl getting kidnapped and traumatized by ghosts… People slowly dying right before my eyes… that's not even half of what I had to see there…

And the worst thing was:

I couldn't help all of them…"

Suddenly, he burst into tears:

"Every time I saved Romani, the time for everything else ran out and I had to undo it! Every time I helped Anju and Kafei, I didn't make it back to the clock tower in time and had to undo it! Same with a dozen other people! No matter how many times I saved them, the time just wasn't enough and I had to undo it and undo it over and over again, until Tatl finally convinced me to give up! And then there were the people whom I couldn't save at all, not even temporarily! Mikau died even though I gave my best to save him! Darmani was already dead when I arrived! They left behind so many friends, who loved them. And then I came and made it just worse by giving them false hope for those people to return! I felt so horrible, but I had no other choice! And then I realized… that curse that had been put on me… was cast by using the soul of a dead Deku-child. A dead Child! It was with me all along, but I couldn't help it! I couldn't do anything at all!"

„Toki…"

Kaze was sorry, that he asked him to tell.

This sounded… so horrible. Maybe it was really for the better, that he couldn't remember all those things….

But Toki… he had no other choice but to remember…

He seemed incredibly down:

"…For every person I saved in Termina… there was another one I couldn't save. For every saved life, there was one that stayed ruined or was erased, no matter what I did. That was when I realized that … that even I couldn't help everyone, no matter how much I wanted… it had probably been the same in Hyrule as well, I just didn't realize, because there, the people didn't drop dead right before my eyes… but in Termina, I got the full picture of how unfair life really is…"

"But… you did you're best, didn't you?!", Kaze asked "No, I know, you surely did everything that was in your power! If you hadn't been there, much more would have happened, am I right?"

Toki looked at the other boy for a short moment:

"And yet, I failed to…"

"OH, don't come me with "failed"!!"

He put one hand onto the other boy's shoulder:

"You can't have failed, because there's no such thing as "failing". Somebody told me that… not too long ago!", he smiled at him "Look… I cannot claim to know what you had to go through… But you must not feel guilty for what happened to those people! Especially not if you managed to save even one person! You didn't mean to abandon them! You would never willingly abandon anybody!"

Kaze winked:  
"Nobody knows that better than me!"

"I can't add much to that…", Eyne stated in shame "But… I think you should listen to him! He is right, if you tried your best, you have no reason to feel guilty! You are not a failure, no, no!!"

Finally, Toki wiped away the ears… he looked the other boy and at the fairy and smiled:  
"…OK. You win. Thank's, guys… Ha ha…"

"You're welcome!", Kaze answered.

They continued their way, until finally reaching the cliff…

Where they encountered a… slight…

OK, whom am I kidding?

A-not-so-slight-at-all problem.

"Uh Oh…"  
"Uhm, yeah, I should have thought about that…"

Toki gulped, while Kaze tried to figure out, how many days they could survive without any supplies whatsoever.

Because

The wind was blowing right into their faces, the very wrong direction

The other cliff was ABOVE them, making it impossible to reach with the Deku-Leaf

There wasn't even a Deku Flower on this Cliff

They still had no boat.

"That's bad… that's very, very bad…", Eyne realized: "We are stuck here!"

"No.", Toki turned to her "He and I are stuck here. _You_ can fly!"

"But I can't just go without you!", Eyne said „The Queen wanted me to take you to her! I have to take you to the queen, otherwise, I cannot return, no!"

"Well, great, and how are you planning on getting us off that rock?", Kaze asked "We've got one Deku Leaf and I lost my Wind Waker."

"And we still haven't figure out, how to get a boat!", Toki added.

"Boat…", Eyne slowly repeated "Boat, Boat… Of course! Tee Hee!"

Suddenly, without any warning, she flew of, leaving the boys behind.

"H-Hey!", Kaze shouted after her: "Where are you going?! You can't just leave us like that!"

"Oh, let her be.", Toki sighed "Name one useful thing she did yet."

"She warned us of the approaching end of the world.", Kaze answered in a low voice.

"Two useful things!"

Kaze just sighed:

"Great, really great, now we are fairy-less as well… Can't your Ocarina somehow bail us out of this?"

"If you can tell me, which ones of Sheik's warp points were not flooded, yes. Otherwise, I wouldn't think of using the Ocarina as a good idea, unless you are a fan of pitifully drowning."

"Great."

Kaze thought…  
Of course, they could use that weird mask to make Toki lighter, so the Dekuleaf may carry bot hof them… but even then, the cliff was still too high up and they'd just float slower towards their watery demise. Just splendid.

"UHH!"

The young boy threw himself into the grass beneath him.

Well, that much about "Awakening the remaining sages."

"We are dead.", he stated with voice devoid of emotion.

"The world is dead.", Toki stated, joining him in the grass.

Kaze sighed:  
"We're one awesome hero, really. Badly equipped and even our fairy---"

"HEEE~EEY!!"

The two boys quickly jumped up again, as the heard the voice. In the distance, they saw something…

A merchant's boat… and something beside it was shining dark blue:

"BOOOOOYS! I GOT YOU A BOAT!!", Eyne shouted as loud as she could.

Kaze smiled in relieve:

"Eyne!"

And Toki shortly jumped:

"I take everything back I said about her!"

-~-

"Oh, it's the young Silvermember!!", Beedle exclaimed in joy upon seing the green-clad boy. "Long time no see!"

"Silvermember?", Toki whispered to Kaze

"I used to shop on this ship quite a lot, when I was still sailing around this part of the ocean by myself.", he replied quickly.

"Well…", Beedle continued "How are the travels going? And, most importantly: How can I help you today?"

But Kaze had to turn down the offer right away:

"Uhm, sorry, Beedle, but I'm broke. I… left my money on the ship."

Of course, it's not like he had any other choice. It's not like he had been prepared for "leaving" the ship this way. He could be glad to still have most of his equipment on him…

"Oh. I see."

A disappointed look took over all of the merchant's face when he heard the word "broke"…

Until Toki asked a question:

"Uhm… do you happen to sell bottled milk?"

Quickly, the men turned around to the young boy in joy:

"Well, of _course_ we are selling milk! Only best quality!"

Milk? Well, that was new to Kaze… he should probably have checked Beedle's newletters more often.

"Great!!" Toki quickly pulled out a red rupee out of his pocket:

"One please!"

"Of course! Just a moment!"

Beddle immediately ran into the cabin in the back of the ship.  
Kaze threw Toki a confused look:

"What do you need the milk for?"

"To drink it, duh." Toki rolled his eyes "We might get hungry on the way to the next island and… just between you and me: I looo~ve milk!"

"Hm… Actually, I like soup better..", Kaze stated.

"Plain old Soup? And Saria's sure that we're the same?"

"Well, you didn't grow up with my Grandma's cooking!"

Just at the thought, Kaze's eyes lit up like two stars:

"Mmmmmmm… Grandma's soup! Oh yeah, that'd be something right now… Ahhh…"

„Keep on dreaming. We're not coming back to your island anytime soon as it looks now.", Toki laughed.

"Oh… that's right…"

Kaze sighed:

"You know… I should have taken a bottle of her soup with me… or a barrel… or two…"

Now it was Toki who gave Kaze a skeptical look:

"Uhm… no offense, but that makes it sound like you were… kind of _addicted_ to that stuff…"

"Hey! I'm not the one ordering a bottle of milk in the middle of the ocean!"

"Yes, you are…", Toki said, slowly alternately pointing at the other boy and himself with his finger: "Somehow… at least… I think…"

Kaze shock his head:

"Look, don't try to make any sense of it like this. That's not gonna make it any less complicated."

"I know…"

"One bottle of milk, right here!!"

Beedle was returning to the room, causing Toki to smile in glee as he spotted the snow-white liquid in the bottle the men had brought:

"Oh! Thank you very much!"

He quickly paid the money and hurried to get a zip of the purchased milk:

"Mmmm! Hey, that tastes just like back home… Haha, I guess, Malon saved the cows!"

"Listen, my little costumers…" Beedle started "Tomorrow, I'll board in Port Monee to restock up my resources. I'll leave you off the ship there. From there on, you'll have to go on alone. Is that alright?"

"Alright!", Toki agreed.

"And thanks for your help, Mister!", Kaze added.

Eyne quickly bowed in midair:

"We would have been so absolutely stuck without you!"

"Oh, no need to thank me! You can't just leave children out alone in the middle of nowhere, can you? Especially not two such fine costumers as you! Without young people like you, coming and buying every now and then, I'd be ruined!"

The two boys looked at each other upon that statement.

And laughed.

_---Note_

_Ladies and Gentlemen, meet:_

_The Filler-chapter! XD_

_Seriously, this chapter is so filler, even the name I gave it is screaming "FILLER!!" all over and it, most literally, is one of the most uninteresting and most unnecessary chapters in the whole fanfic… Well, except for the Majora's Mask Angst maybe, which I do need to set up later plot points. I'm also setting up LonLonMilk n' ElixirSoup jokes here, which will become a running gag later on. Seriously, just go replay Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker and make the boys drink some of the stuff! It looks sooo overdone!_

_Epic drinking, brought to you by Nintendo._

_Heck, actually, the only Link who can even remotely drink ANYTHING without looking like a giant show-off is, ironically, Twilight Princess Link, whom I generally consider the biggest Show-off among all the Links! _

_Mr. "comes with 30 Epic Horse n' Sword poses included" -.-_

_Oh, while we're at drinking… Next chapter is one of my favorites and by this hint I just gave, you might already guess why…_

_So, go, grab yourself a bowl of soup and a glass of milk and enjoy! ;-)_

_(By the way, you might want to look back to chapter 1 (Timeless Stories), since I added a little something in the beginning. It's not plot-relevant or anything, just a quote from a song that inspired a lot of the first half of the fanfiction. I added it for atmosphere and to mark the beginning of said first half. Second half, which will likely be published as it's own fanfiction, will start of with a similar quote from a song which inspired the second half.)_


	15. Let's go to the bar

_Warning: This chapter contains so many balant references and parodies to popular culture and internet Memes, I'd be here all day if I tried to count them. You have been warned._

Chapter14:

Let's go to the bar

When they arrived on Windfall, it was already late at night. Kaze even believed, he heard an owl shouting not too far away, which was unusual, since those birds were a very rare sight on the island of the great sea…

Together, the two young boys entered the clam, sleeping town… at least, that's how they expected it to be. Reality, however, turned out to be a little different:

They had barely set a foot behind the gates of the town, when the already heard weak yelling and singing from not too far in the distance.

In a matter of seconds, while they were still exchanging confused looks about those noises, a woman quickly approached them with a shocked face:  
"Dear, dear, children! Why are you still out at this time? You should hurry and go home to sleep- you shouldn't be outside today night, goodness, no!"

"Huh?", Kaze slightly tilted his head: "Did something happen, Miss?"

"Why, you don't know, boys? The pirates have returned!"

While the woman spoke those words with fear and disgust, the little boy's eyes lit up in hope when he heard them:

"The pirates?! They are here?"

This reaction certainly stunned the lady for a few moments, before she decided to answer:

"… Yes, boy. Those horrible marauders, who plundered the bomb-store just a year ago and afterwards, terrorized us citizens! They occupied the bar again! Oh, poor Miss Gillian… You two should better get back home to your parents now! I'm sure; they must be worried sick by now! In fact, I'm not feeling too safe out here tonight either… I'll go home now… You'd really, really better do the same, children!!"

The Frau pulled up the hem of her dress a little bit and ran away, down the street. One last time she turned around again and when the boys where still standing there, not even preparing to move from their spot, she just shook her head and continued her way hastily.

"Did you hear, Toki? The pirates are here!"

"Uhm…"

Toki wasn't quite sure how a town being attacked by marauders was supposed to be good news.

Kaze rolled his eyes:  
"Tetra's pirates."

"Oh!", Toki exclaimed in realization… "-wait. How are you so sure, it's them?"

Kaze continued:

"It was them who robbed the bomb-store last year. I know that, because I was eavesdropping on them when it happened. That was not to long before I joined them."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Yes. It just has to be them, I'm sure! And… I know the knocking-code we need to get them to open the bar's door for us!"

"Great!"

"Hey! Maybe the princess is with them, hm?", Eyne considered "I mean, maybe they found each other after the storm!"

"Yeah, the possibility is there!", Kaze nodded gleefully "Which means, we got our ship back and that Tetra might be save!! And I could get my Wind Waker back! Ha ha!"

"That'd be so~ perfect!", Eyne stated "Then we could finally go see the queen! She could surely help us!"

"Well, let's hurry up then, huh?"

Kaze made a quick gesture, before running of to the bar:  
"This way! Com'on, guys!"

"Alright!"

They radn down the street and stopped at the bar, where the yelling and crude singing were obviously originating from. Kaze ran up the wooden stairs and started to knock at the door:

*Dom DomDom DomDom Dom DomDom*

They waited for a few seconds… nothing happened.

"Uhm…"

Kaze tried again—

Nothing.

Finally, he started hammering on the door with his fists in anger:

"GONZO! It's me, Link! Come on! OPEN THE DOOR!!"

But when he put his ear against the door in order to hear if somebody was approaching to open up, he got something completely different instead… :

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.  
We pillage, we *hiccup* plunder, we rifle, and… "

"ARGH!!", Kaze screamed under the realization that the whole crew must have already been completely and utterly drunk.

"How boozy can you get?!"

He hit his head against the door… accidently moving the Doorknob.

And the door went open right away- With Link still leaned against it:

"Wha--- WOOA—OUCH!!"

He crashed into the hard, wooden floor of the inside of the bar. Toki and Eyne followed in.

"So… it wasn't even looked?", Toki asked sighing, tempted to give himself the face-palm.

Eyne took a curious look at the other Link, the one on the floor:  
"Uhm… yeah, maybe he should have checked on that…"

"Uhff…"

Kaze rubbed the back of his head, as he slowly proceeded to get up again. He looked over to the Counter. Miss Gillian, the owner of the bar, was hiding behind it, like she was already expecting and preparing for the first flying bottles and glasses, which would surely soon come.

And, really, the people guilty of this entire ruckus, the ones sitting at the tables, drinking like there was no tomorrow, where actually Gonzo, Nudge, Senza, Mako, Niko and Zuko…

"We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack,  
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.  
Maraud and embezzle, and even high-jack,  
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life…"

"Ey, look over *hiccup* there, 'vrybody, it's swabby!", Niko suddenly exclaimed in childlike joy upon seeing Link at door.

" 'ello, swabby!! *HICCUP*!! Come on, 'it down! 'rink with us!"

Kaze, however, just blushed in utter shame upon seeing what was going on in here…

OK… it was nothing new to him that Tetra's men tended to do overdo it with the drinking quite a little bit… but this was just sad.

And just when Link thought, it couldn't get any worse, the real shock came:

Like out of nowhere, a man suddenly jumped onto one of the tables, obviously already much, much more drunk than anyone else (and that was saying something) and he staggeringly joined in to the singing of the pirates, while "dancing" on said table with a half-full bottle in his right hand:

"We're beggars a*hiccup* b-lighters, ne'er-do-well *hiccup*ds,  
up, me 'earties, yo ho~!!!!  
Aye, but we're loved by *hiccup* our mommies and dads,  
Drink up, me '*hiccup*, yo~ ho!!!!

Yooooooo~ hooooooo, yoooouuuoooo hooooouooou, a pirate's…"

Link(Kaze) couldn't believe his eyes at what he was seeing:

The dancing man, who seemed to be in his thirties, had a short beard, a little mustache, brown hair, wore a blue coat and a red scarf and had sunken cheeks (which were now tainted in a crimson-red color.)

"L-LINEBECK?!", the blonde boy suddenly exclaimed in shock "What are YOU doing here?!?!"

Toki was just starring at his Other Version:

"You KNOW that guy?!"

"Uhm--- just met him once, for barely a second and did not talk to him a lot, really!", Kaze quickly lied, since the last thing he wanted at the moment was to be associated with this guy over there on the table. Not when he was like _this_. In fact, Link was so ashamed of seeing the man who actually saves his **life** once in the state of being practically reduced to a talking bottle of rum, that he blushed so heavily, it made his lie more than just obvious.

"Barely a second… Of course~…", Toki rolled his eyes as he spoke in a sarcastic tone.

The talking bottle of rum, A.K.A Captain Linebeck, started swinging the actual bottle of rum around and babbled with half-closed eyes:

"Yeaya! *Hiccup* I I-a… I'm hearing~ my *hiccup* name?"

He slightly bowed down to the two Links, blinking a few times:  
"AHH, I see-a, mah shildren, so ya *hiccup* heared abaout ze grrrreat Swineheck—errmm, Linebeck, huh? Abaout aaaall my-e adentuu—uh, adventures and stuff, *hiccup*, is thahht not so~?!"

His face moved uncomfortable close to Kaze, who tried to look at him with steady, serious eyes:

"Linebeck, snap out of it!! It's me, Link! The kid with the Phantom Sword and the Fairy Spirits, remember?"

"Huh? …*hiccup*--- Link?"

Linebeck's brain needed quite a few seconds to process this information in its current state:

"…

Oh! LINK!"

„Yes, Li--- WOAH!!"

Suddenly, without any warning, he hugged the little boy and started squeezing him so hard between his arms, that Link felt like his lungs were about to be squashed, his skin already changing from the previous blushing-red to suffocation-blue. He started gasping for air, while Linebeck didn't seem to notice the little one's misery in the slightest:  
"AWWW, little Green*hiccup*ny!! Did you *hiccup* miss meeh?!"

Silence was the answer to this question, due to Link being kinda occupied with trying not to die.

"Well, I certaihnly miiihiiised you!! Because you areh such a funny, *hiccup* fuhnny guy! There's always all thies fahnny stuhff *hiccup* 'appening to you! Lady Destiny doesn't seeheem to like ya much, do~es she? Hee Hee! Awww, you are still such an adorable little kiddy-widdy one just gotta HUUUG you!!!"

When Linebeck started to almost crush some of Link's bones with his hug, the boy started to wonder how many bottles like the one in his hand Linebeck had already emptied tonight. He was guessing that the number was at least somewhere around 20--- no, 30, defiantly at least that much.

Meanwhile, Toki and Eyne were busy laughing their guts out at the sight of what was happening to their dear, innocent friend, while the Pirates, regardless of everything that took place, just continued their song.

"C--*hiccup*-come' on, kihd!! Laet's dwink together for the shake… uhm, sake of ze *hiccup* good ol' time, ha? And fohr the dear Shi…Qui…Hi…Cielala! Where ever _she_ may *hiccup* be right now, huh?"

"Ughh… Thanks, no, not interested!", Link(Kaze) exclaimed, when he finally managed to free himself from Linebeck's grasp.

"Aww, whay so serious, kiddy *hiccup*?"

Link tried to somehow start a normal, sane conversation:

"Linebeck… how did you come here?! Didn't you want to go see the world on your ship, after the ocean king brought you here, or something along those lines?"

"Shi*hiccup*p?... Oh yeah! Ship!... That's… *hiccup* gone, huh?"

„Gone?" How do you mean that, „gone"? I thought, Oshus brought it back!"

"Yeah, it was back, but now it's gone again, gone gone, like in gone home, but without home, because that was home and now it's gone all gone, gone!...Gone! *HICCUP* I just turned around a sec' and looked and then--- KRACKS AND WUMM! AND SWUSH!! And then, all like… BLUBB BLUBB BLUBB… and gone was my whole… beautiful… ship… was….

…. GONE!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAA*hiccup*AAAAAA!!!"

Linebeck had burst into tears on Link's shoulder:

"My ship! My *hiccup* beautiful ship!! Gone!! All gone!!"

Link felt so incredibly sorry for Linebeck now… No matter how drunk he was, Link knew very well that the S. S. Linebeck meant everything to him and that those tears were not only real, but coming from heart. He lost his ship… this time forever. He was a broken man…

"Don't worry, Linebeck!", he tried to quickly comfort the ex-captain as good as he could: "We… We can build you a new ship! I'll just gather some parts and…"

But Linebeck continued wailing:

"No! *hiccup*! No ship can replace HER! None, you HEAR ME?!"

Linebeck closed his eyes while yelling this line… when he opened them again, he promptly spotted the bottle in his own hands and was about to take another sip, when Link quickly snug the bottle away from him:

"OH NO! You had enough!!"

In rage, (Why did adults even have to drink?! It was just stupid!) he threw the bottle at the nearest wall… where Ms. Gillian, who was just about to sneak out of the building, barely escaped the flying vessel as it crashed and exclaimed in shock:

"BOY!"

"Oops! I'm sorry!", Link quickly apologized, while Linebeck grabbed him by the collar of his shirt:

"NOOO!! Why are you *hick* doing this?!"

Link struggled to get himself free because, from experience, he knew what would follow if he didn't (and wasn't keen on getting so dizzy again, that ground and ceiling would look interchangeable to him). Finally, he got free and was on the save ground again:

"Why? Linebeck, just look at yourself and you'll know WHY!"

"But the rum!!"

"Is gone!!"

"Why is the rum GONE?!"

Before Link could even try to answer, Linebeck had grabbed him by the collar again and started to shake him like in the "gooood ol' times":  
"What did rum ever do to you? Why do you hate rum so much! LEAVE RUM ALO~NE!!!"

Link was now so enraged, he could even ignore the dizziness, this was just too silly.

Was he now the babysitter of a drunken treasure-hunter?! He guessed that he now had an idea of what Tetra always had to endure when she tried to control the crew after the end of a long binge-night.

"You wanna know, why the rum's gone?! Because the rum turned you into a giant baby, that's why!!"

"But why's the rum gone?!"

SLAP.

That last sentence just did it. Link had slapped Linebeck, just like he had slapped Tetra the day before, except that this time, it was completely on purpose.

But, instead of snapping out of his weird behavior, like sugar-sweet Tetra did, (well, alcohol's not like magic after all), Linebeck just sat down on his table and cowered like… the giant baby just Link called him, mumbling stuff like "Rum didn't do anything to you, big meanie…" .

Meanwhile, Toki's loud laughter of malicious joy made Kaze frown spitefully, as it still hadn't stopped:

"Thank you for giving me a~ll the support you had to offer!", he hissed at the hero of time in the sarcastic tone he picked up from Tetra.

"Sorry, but this was just _perfect_!", Toki stated in glee.

Finally, Gonzo paid attention to Link (seemingly not the least bit surprised that he showed up here, probably due to the effects of the alcohol.) and started talk to him:

"Ey, ey, Link… don't be so mean to poor… Liney. He's had a… pretty bad day… and stuff… ya know?"

Kaze fell down on his knees in a begging manner:

"Please, Gonzo, tell me that you're intelligence didn't drown in that stuff as well!!"

"Hmm?"

Gonzo took a look into the bottle:

"Uhm… no can't… see it… in there…"

The next table was just begging for this Link to hit it with his head, repeatedly and very hard.

He should have known that praising the day was a mistake. You just regret doing that. EVERY TIME.

Gonzo made a face in surprise as he saw the little boy's action:

"Owch, doesn't that… hurt?"  
"Yes.", Link answered brief and honestly. "OK… Gonzo, please listen to me closely. I am going to ask you two questions now: First: Where's Tetra? Second: Where did Linebeck come from? Did you understand me?"

"Hmm… ah… Miss Tetra…well, she flew away, huh? On the wind…"

"And you didn't see her again yet?"

"Nope. That's why we're… here… you know?... Drinking away… the woe and stuff…you know?"

Link didn't even think he needed to comment on that kind of behavior.

"And Liney here…came in before us… had already quite a few bottles, when we arrived, yeah?… the lady wanted to throw him out, ya know? But we invited him… on the lady's check… ha ha…"

"Aha…"

Which, in other words, meant that they forced Miss Gillian to keep giving Linebeck rum when he was already absolutely drunk… which explained his behavior.

"Hey, what's with the… frowning face…?... Want some too, Link?"

Gonzo offered Link a jug of beer.

"Gonzo.", Kaze replied in a serious manner "This is alcohol. I am thirteen."

"I am nineteen!!"

This sudden statement had come from… Toki.

Causing Kaze to open his eyes wi~de. Did this guy really want too…

"No, you are NOT nineteen!", Kaze stated quiet angered.

"But I used to be!", Toki argued "And when I was, I was so busy that I never got to even try any alcohol at all! You don't know how much it sucked to be a child again and realize how many things I could have done as an adult, which I didn't do!!" He ran over to Gonzo: "Come on, please, let me try!"

And even Eyne followed out of curiosity:  
"…Can I try too? Please, please?"

Kaze couldn't believe what he saw and heard:  
"You don't seriously want to end up like THEM, do you?!"

He pointed at… pretty much everybody else in this room.

Toki just rolled his eyes, when he took the jug from Gonzo:

"Come on, they've been drinking like, half an eternity. I just want one tiny sip, what could that possibly do?"

--- Approximately 27 minutes and 48 seconds later ---

"LINK!

HE COME TO TOWN!  
COME TO SAVE!  
PRINCESS ZELDA!!!"  
HICCUP!!!

„And he laughed about Linebeck?!?!"

Kaze cowered, the ears cowered with his cap, in an edge of the room and hoped, that this night may end as quickly as possible. He had become the last remaining intelligence in this building. Even Eyne had grabbed a toothpick, which she was now rapidly spinning in one hand like an acrobat, happily singing "Zarap zap za, zaribidabidim…", while smiling like she hadn't eaten anything else but pure sugar for the last 12 weeks.

Meanwhile, Kaze's dear "honorable precedor " was jumping around on the table, while stabbing the air with his sword, accompanied by the yells of the drunken pirates.

It couldn't come any more embarrassing.

The worst thing was, that Kaze himself started to feel dizzy and confused, even though he hadn't even touch the slightest bit of alc. Probably this was the same connection that caused Toki to fade every time they were separated, now taking effect in the other direction. And it felt horrible.

Luckily, Miss Gillian had taken the key to the storage room with her when she fled, so the pirates couldn't get any more alcohol and would, sooner or later run out of it and finally become sober again.  
However, with his luck, Link guessed that this would more likely be later than sooner. Like in 2 days or so.

"Arghhh! Linebeck's right, destiny must really, **really hate** me!!"

"Uhm… Kid?"

Somebody tapped on Link's shoulder. He looked up. It was Linebeck. And he obviously had an headache:

„Ouch…"

„Oh no! Linebeck, just try to „Hug" me again, and I will---„

„Don't worry… I got my head clear now… mostly… Arghh…"

Link threw him a sceptical look:

"After just half an hour?"

"Oh, believe me, I'm used to way more than this… Do you remember how I told you that I used to travel with Jolene? ... Well, I should probably tell you that one of her nicknames is "The Great Bottle Fairy"…"

Well, at least his voice did seem normal again.

"Wheew… really… Sorry, that I had to slap you, Linebeck, but you were… well…"

"It's alright, kid… But let's please, _please_ never talk about that again, OK?"

"Agreed.", Link stated nodding.

Linebeck took a deep breath:

"Alright… now that we have got this out of the way, I got to ask you: Who are---"

He pointed at Toki and little Eyne, who were just dancing the Speedycake-Remix of Carameldansen on the table.

"Oh, long story.", Link (Kaze) stated. "And right now, it'd be a very… _very_ embarrassing story for me to tell, OK?"

"OK, understood.", Linebeck agreed.

"Well, now, let's try this again… Linebeck, what happened? Gonzo said, you were already drunk, when he and the others arrived?"

"…"Drunk" is such a hard, hard word…", Linebeck mumbled in shame "Why can't we just say, I was…. Uhm… a little… tipsy?"

Another skeptical glance from Link:

"A little tipsy? You called me an "adorable kiddy-widdy" and abused me as a Teddy! After dancing on the table."

"Uhm… anyway!!", Linebeck tried to change the topic as quickly as possible: "It happened yesterday, afternoon: Just imagine. I was out on the Ocean, wonderful weather, not one cloud in sight, not even the slightest bit of wind… And suddenly, out of nowhere, this hurricane appeared!"

"H-Hurricane?", Link gulped with a bad feeling about where this was going…

"Oh yes, a hurricane! I tried to turn around and get away, but this beast of the wind goddess just pulled me in without any grace! …The next thing I remember is waking up on the shore of this island… and my wonderful S. S. Linebeck had become… driftwood…"

Linebeck let his head hand down, looking incredibly upset, while a heavy wave of guilt overcame Link…

This was no coincidence… no…

"Oh…Linebeck, I am so sorry… we just…"

"Why? Kid, it's not your fault, you have no reason to feel sorry… Not like back then, when you almost made the cannon—"

"HEY! It wasn't ME, who insisted on attaching it with second-hand screws!!"

"With just a little bit of _aiming_, the blast would not have…"

"Aiming? **Aiming?!** The cannon was spinning around freely, like a carousel! I was lucky I wasn't thrown into the sea while trying to control it!

"Arghhh… well that doesn't matter now anymore anyway…", Linebeck states "Because my ship is now not more than a beautiful memory…"

"Linebeck…"

"OK… now, where can I get a new bottle of rum…"

"OH NO!!"

Link pushed Linebeck away, as he tried to get to the counter:

"Not again, pal!"

"Why?! I told you everything you wanted to know, Link! Tell me ONE good reason not to drown this horrible woe in sweet, sweet alcohol again!!"

Link just pointed at the table, where Toki and Eyne had started to sing "Breaking Free" in a duet. (And Eyne was _not_ the one singing Gabriella's part…)

"Uhm… Point taken."  
„Thank you."

Link sighed in relieve.

„Well, if you'd excuse me now…" Linebeck was holding a key, probably to a room in the inn, "I need to sleep a bit…"

"OK…" Link replied: "… Believe me… Tomorrow, the world will already look much brighter again!"

Lienebeck sighed, as he turned around: "Thanks, Link… But I don't think that a grandpa, who really is a giant whale god, will turn up and bring back my ship this time… why does destiny have to be so cruel…?"

Link stayed silent.

It was their fault that Linebeck lost his ship. They summoned that storm… But he couldn't tell him this. Link felt so horrible…

Linebeck sighed, as he walked towards the door. He suddenly stopped:  
"Oh yes…"

Without turning around again, he said:

"Link… when I came here, I saw a girl running by… she looked just like your friend."

"Like Tetra?!"

Link gasped:

"Linebeck, where did you see her?!"

"Down the street, just before I went through the town's gate.", he explained. "But I'm not sure if it was really her…"

"Why?"

"She seemed to be scared of something and her eyes had something… calm and innocent to them. Not like that cheeky little friend of yours at all…"

Calm and innocent? No, that really didn't sound like Tetra at all. Tetra was a kind-hearted girl at the core, but… calm and innocent? No.

"Where did the girl go? Did you see anything else? Did she say something?!", Link asked in excitement, but Linebeck shock his head:

"No, she ran away before I could even try to talk to her… and I don't really remember which direction she went, I was too upset to care…"

"Ohh…."

"Good night, Link."

He opened the door and left for the guestrooms upstairs…

Link stayed behind, sunken in his thoughts:

"Tetra…"  
Just what did happen to her? If this girl that Linebeck saw really was her…

Link was very worried for her. She was a strong person… but also a popular goal for monsters and the likes. Even if she wouldn't have the Triforce of Wisdom, Tetra still carried the powers of the ancient Princesses within her, which attracted anything and anyone who was interested in strong life-force to her. Now, that the symbol was shining again, how many creatures and people with bad intentions would try to lay hands on her, being the incredible source of life-force she was?

Too many for Link's taste. He couldn't stand the thought of her getting into mortal danger again…

He had to find and save her, quickly…

The boy was about to open the door and leave the building, when he heard a loud noise.

He turned around:

Toki and Eyne had collapsed on the table and where now sleeping on the same.

That's when Link(Kaze) remembered, that he couldn't just leave… It would kill the other boy…

…

His hand sunk down from the doorknob…

Just because Toki had drunk a lot of alcohol, Kaze was now having a terrible headache. So… what would happen if Toki died? Would he feel consequences as well?

Would he maybe even lose a part of himself?

But… Toki being her, right beside him, was already something that should be impossible… Maybe this other boy would just disappear, back to where he came from and everything would go back to how it was before?

…Link looked at the sleeping boy, who looked so much like him… The little hero, who was just now dealing with the consequences of alcohol for the first time in… his life? Could you still call this his life? Wasn't it more like he was "using" Kaze's life?---

Link(Kaze) became angry with himself.

What was he thinking?!

He shouldn't even consider such things!

Toki… The other Link… He couldn't just let him fade away! It didn't matter to him if they were the same person – this boy was now his friend, just like every other friend he made on his journeys! Reincarnation or not, he would not risk to accidently take away this boy's life, even if it really was his own, which he would just be taking back. He would stay close to him… even if that meant that he couldn't search for Tetra.

At least not tonight.

_---Note---_

_Uhm…_

_The obligatory drinking chapter… yeah…_

_Don't look at me like that!! T-T_

_The idea for this chapter came to me, when I was jumping on our trampoline last spring, remembering some scenes from "Pirates of the Caribbean." Did you expect this to be sane?!_

_Anyway, this is the reason why you should not drink, children. _

_Because… drinking will turn you into a walking Internet Meme… yeah…that's my logic._

_The strong anti-alcohol standpoint in this chapter stems from the fact that I, myself, have an aversion to alcohol, even though I am actually allowed to drink (In Austria, the minimum legal age for drinking is 16. I am 17.) _

_I am pretty much the only person in my class, who never drunk before, except for sipping on my mother's sect last Christmas (it tasted horrible)._

_This is also, by the way, why Link(Toki) mentions that he could have drunk when he was adult, even though he was only 19. By European law, 19 is old enough to drink… Although, I guess, the minimum age for drinking in Japan, where the games come from, is 20… _

_Ah, the fanfic was originally in German, so just accept that 19 is old enough to drink, OK? _

_OK; I usually don't write Disclaimers, because I find them unnecessary (why in the world would I put a story on Fanfic-net if it wasn't based on another person's property?!), but I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, nor the Speedycake remix of Carameldansen, nor High School Musical, nor the Levian Polka and, especially not, Chris Crocker, the Brittney Spears fan. (Yeah, there is a reference to him, just try to spot it)._

_This whole chapter was built around the "Why is the Rum" gone joke, since I always found Linebeck to be waaay too similar to Captain Jack Sparrow. If they ever make Zelda movies, they just got to cast Johnny Depp for Linebeck. They just have to. _

_I tried to have him quote from that scene in the movie as much as possible, which would theoretically put Link into Elizabeth's role (lol), yet Link's lines are not like hers at all, because I just couldn't seem to be able to adjust them to his situation properly… also, by the way, Elizabeth is more like Tetra anyway. And Link is like Will. A lot. _

_This is, by far, the silliest chapter in the whole fanfic. Don't worry, the plot will soon move on again…_


	16. Off to Dragon Roost

Chapter15:

Off to Dragon Roost

If Kaze learned anything that he didn't really know before from the rum-orgy-incident, it was that sleeping on the hard ground get's you an aching back.

A very _painfully _aching back.

He had to first realize this, when he woke up in the middle of the night, lying on the hard, wooden logs. He could actually hear his bones making crunching noises, when he tried to dizzily get up from it…

Oww… well, hello, aching muscles. Long time no feel. And he didn't even have to fight some evil monstrosity.

There he was, a barely thirteen years old boy, already struggling with the first symptoms of diverse sicknesses old people usually come down with. Neat.

As Link slowly rose up from the ground, he took a look around and noticed that everyone else was still asleep — of course, it was darkest night. He then examined the floor and the tables around him and saw, that all the bottles and glasses were completely empty… The pirates probably ran out of alcohol after all. And also of candles. The only reason why he was even able to spot anything here was because of Eyne's blue light, which was still shining brightly, even though the fairy was asleep. Link was just about to lie down again and continue his nap, when a high-pitched voice reached him through the loud snoring of the pirates:

"Hee Hee…My… Mastress…"

Link listened up. Eyne…

"Mastress… it will all work out… I can do it… I will bring… the… the hero… it will all work out… in the end…"

Those words made Link feel touched... Eyne seemed to really have a lot of faith into him and Toki, saying such things to the queen in her dreams… For a second, everything was silent, until Eyne started whispering again:

"…and… once it's done… will I finally be able to… will you really grant me… my…"

"Hm?"

Wait… Grant her… what? A wish?

So, Eyne had a wish?

Link would have loved to hear more about that, but that was when the fairy stopped sleeptalking. In disappointment, Link lay down again. A wish to the great fairy queen… What kind of wish could a fairy possibly have, that was so big that only their queen herself can grant it?

Well… he would probably find out once they finished their quest anyway…

Link already knew what **he** would wish for from the fairy queen, if she offered to grant him a wish…

Either Tetra's safety, or (in case they already found her by that point) a new ship for poor Linebeck.

Satisfied with those plans, he slowly slipped back into sleep again on the hard, cold floor…

Ahh… the aching back again. Hurray.

Meanwhile, a certain person secretly left the island in boat, which was not hers… taking a lot of stuff with her, which didn't belong to her either.

-~-

"Well, I think I got a clue where we have to go now…"

Toki sat, along with Kaze and Eyne, near the cliffs of the island, while the noon-sun warmly shone down onto them. There were 2 maps lying in front of the young, blonde boy:

Kaze's Sea-Chart of the Great Sea and a Map of ancient Hyrule, which belonged to Toki himself.

Meanwhile, Kaze threw both Toki and Eyne worried looks:

"And you two are sure that you're alri—"

"WE ARE FINE!!", Toki suddenly shouted. He blushed crimson red "And never… NEVER EVER speak of this horrible night again!!!"

"NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!", Eyne added for emphasis.

The two of them seemed very well aware of what they did while being intoxicated by their "little sip" of Gonzo's beer… Poor them.

Toki quickly changed the topic:

"Anyway… This came just to me, when I saw that volcano over there…:"

He pointed at the shioulette of a smoke-emitting mountain in the distance.

"It's death mountain! It just has to be, I'm sure I'm not in error! And since the island which houses Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods is here on your chart, it means…"

He placed the maps next to each other and tilted the one picturing Hyrule around a bit:

"…that the old Hyrule does fit onto this ocean pretty much like this! This island here is roughly a mile or two away from the spot where Kakariko Village probably used to be!"

Kaze took a close look at Toki's map:  
"Hmm… this means that the nearest temple is the temple of Shadows, right?"

Toki nodded:

"Correct. However… The sage of Shadowtemple is, incidentally, Impa, who has already been freed. So going there would be a waste of time."

"Understood."

"Where we should go now is… this place!"

He pointed at… The volcano.

"The Firetemple! Temple of the Sage Darunia!", he explained „But… it is located _within_ Death Mountain… So we'll have to find a way to get inside safely first, or we might have to risk being burned to death…"

"Wait… That's a sage's temple?!", Kaze asked surprised „But… I was in there before! That's on Dragon Roost Island, home of the Rito-tribe!"

"Well, that's perfect!", Toki crossed his arms: "So, since you obviously know the locals, you'll just bring them to allow us to enter the temple and I'll lead us through it! Piece of cake!"

Kaze leaned back:

"OK, but we should make some preparations first. We'll need some food for the journey."

"Hmm…"

Toki reached into his pocket, but all he got out of it was a single green Ruppee.

"Well… I used up my last money for the milk."

Hearing this, Kaze winked at Toki:

"No problem. My money should be back on the ship which, according to Gonzo, landed here save and sound after the storm. I've got 499 Ruppees, that ought to be enough."

He smiled enthusiastically.

Eyne however, seemed not to be in the mood for smiling:

"Well, what are you waiting for, huh?"

She became excited once again:

"We've got to go to the ship and get the money than quickly buy everything we need, then board the ship again and make it ready to take off from the shore, of course also repairing all possible damage and then…"

"Chill out, Eyne!", Kaze suddenly laughed.

"Don't be so hasty. That only get's you bad results when trying to do anything.", Toki stated calmly. "I had to learn that the hard way. It's much more efficient to act fairly quickly, but also carefully."

"But you have to hurry, our time is…"

"Eyne…"

Kaze sighed:

"Who's the one who's saved the world from never ending darkness at least twice now and that without any prior experience whatsoever?"

"…You two…", Eyne answered, slightly calmer.

"And who do know exactly what they're doing?", Toki asked.

"…You two…"

"And who will you now just trust and let do their thing?"

"…You two…", she answered a little bit embarrassed. "OK, OK, I'll stop nagging… but please, hurry up!"

Toki laughed:  
"Alright!"

He then stood up and reached his hand down to Kaze:

"OK, let's go and get your money!"

Kaze nodded with a content, agreeing smile. He took Tokis hand, his eyes directly meeting his for a mere split second-

Just short glance, which caused a surprisingly confused reaction from Toki:  
"Huh?"

With seemingly great interest, Toki looked closer at Kaze again.

"What's the matter?", Kaze asked not understanding what was wrong.

Toki took a few second to reply, since he seemed to be thinking hard about something:

"I just noticed… that…your eyes are kinda weird…"

"…Weird?"

Toki seemed to have troubles to explain what exactly he meant by this, but he tried regardless:

"When I first met you a few days ago, I thought your eyes were deep blue, like mine… but just now, they looked more like… greenish blue…"

Toki looked into Kaze's eyes once again, who immediately reacted to this by instinctively tilting his head up, resulting in Toki seeing his pendant's eyes in a vastly different angle from before, which caused him even more confusion:  
"Wait, no- now it's more like… brownish green?! What's the…?"

"Oh.."

Kaze laughed and blushed a little bit. He brushed a few of his hairs, which the wind just blew into his face out of it:

"Ah… Yeah my eye-color… I know about that little "issue". It's always been like this, you know: It seems to keep changing between green and blue depending on the angle you look at them from. Sometimes, some brown does mix in as well, for… some reason..."

"Really?", Toki asked in surprise and Kaze nodded.

"Why is that?"

"Grandma says, that has something to do with my pigments being distributed uneven or something like that… But, I guess, in actuality she doesn't have a clue either."

"What's your actual eye color then?", Toki asked interested "Blue, Green or Brown?"

"Uhm…", Kaze put his pointing finger to his lower lip and thought for a few moments: "Let's just say, my eye color's… ambiguous. "

"More like Tri-guous…", muttered Toki "Tricolor eyes… just when you thought, you'd seen in all… Wait… but aren't we supposed to be alike?"

Toki tilted his head in utter confusion:

"Why do you have three different Eye colors, when mine are just blue and nothing else?"

"For the same reason that my hair is lighter in color?", Kaze guessed.

"But that's probably just because the sun and the salty seawater keep bleaching it. I'm sure, your hair would be darker, if you grew up somewhere else."  
"Hm… Probably."

That's when both of the boys ran out of arguments to continue the conversation with… for approximately 5 seconds, they were just standing there, looking at each other clueless. Quietly, they were thinking… now, really, what was up with the Greenish brownish blue eyes? That sounded like a character description from a bad amateur novel, not like an actual person telling about his or her actual features…

Finally, Kaze just shook his head:  
"Hey! Let's forget about my eyecolor for now, OK? We've got better things to do!"

"Correct, Correct, Correct!!", Eyne commented in a very nervous voice:

"You've been standing around here for 6 minutes now, doing nothing! Wasting time like this can be dangerous, you know, you know!!"

"6 MINUTES?!", Toki exclaimed in shock when he heard the number:

"What the heck are we doing?! If we keep that on, we'll never ever get even anywhere near the fire temple. We gotta get moving!! Come on!"

Together, they ran back into the town.

Next thing on their to-do list: Trying to wake up the still sleeping crew from their after-binge sleep.

-~-

"…"

"Speechless" can be a very useful and effective word.

Yet it didn't even remotely describe the state of our two heroes, when they realized what had happened that night, while everybody was asleep…

Something, that sounded downright ridiculous, too pathetic to be actually true.

And yet, it was:

The pirates.

Had been.

Robbed.

Well and now, dear readers take a deep breath and slowly read all of those five words again, carefully thinking about the meaning and all associations of and with each of them.

That's when you might get a tiny clue of what was going on in the heads of our two heroes right now…

"Ha—How did THAT HAPPEN!?"

Stunned, Kaze starred into the empty storage room of the pirate ship.

Empty, empty, EMPTY.

And this wasn't the only place on this boat that was looking like this:

All the thief left behind were the steering wheel, some old bread and rice (barely enough for 2 days), some boxes filled with absolutely useless stuff that they just happened to have lying around for no reason and clothing.

Everything, literally EVERYTHING ELSE was gone, including the rest of the food, their treasures and _even the sails._

"What sane person would steal _sails_?!", Toki asked in utter confusion.

"Better question: What sane person would steal from _pirates_?!", Kaze stated (not remembering, that Tetra had asked him that very question back when he "took" their newly stolen bombs.) "Or, an even better question: WHAT KIND OF PIRATES HAVE OTHER PEOPLE PLUNDER THEIR SHIP?!"

The ones, whom he was referring to, looked up to the ceiling (if they could have seen the sky, they would have surely made some kind of comment about the beautiful weather…) and started whistling random songs nervously, until Mako couldn't take it anymore:

"B-But we hid the ship! Just like Miss Tetra always told us to! We even locked all the doors! You know that you need a key to open them, and I still got mine!

"Me too!"  
"And me!"

"But… if everyone's still got their keys, how did the thief get in then?"; Eyne asked "He couldn't have… walked through the closed door, could he, huh?"

"But is defiantly _was_ locked, we tell you!"

"Arghh… THAT DOESN'T MATTER NOW!", Kaze finally exclaimed. "What we do know is, that my money's gone, as well as the rest of my equipment, we don't have much food left, not to mention sails, my baton's still gone and we are counting down to Armageddon !"

"We won't be able to go anywhere without any sails…", Toki agreed.

Eyne was floating up and down in excitement:

"And getting another boat or ship would take way, way, way too long!"

"What shall we do now?!", Gonzo looked devastated: "We ain't got a ship anymore, nor money, nor food, not even a captain… we… we…"

He suddenly burst out in tears:

"We are broken men!!!"

The whole crew joined in on his whining:

"IT'S OVER! This is the end of our career!!"

"I want our Tetra back!!!"

"ME TOO!"

"MIIISS TETRA!! WE NEED YOU!!! BUHHAAAAA!!!"

While the pirates continued to mourn over their oh-so-cruel fate, Kaze finally snapped, not able to take all the whining anymore:

"SHUT UP!!"

Suddenly, everything was quiet.

Link's angry eyes pierced every single of the members of the crew:

"What the heck do you think you're doing?! You are pirates!! The terror of the seas! The horror of merchants, the fear of the citizens!! And now, you are sitting here, crying like a bunch of babies, just because you're missing some sails and a captain!? GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!!"

Immediately, the eyes of everybody were fixed on the young boy in expectation… Like they were ready to take any suggestion and order he'd make any moment. Kaze, in surprise, needed a few seconds to realize, why the crew suddenly seemed so attentive to his words:

He just had sounded like Tetra.

Probably her endless lamenting and commanding in this loud, piercing voice of hers had started to rub off on him… how convenient!

It was funny, because, actually, by the ranking of the crew, Gonzo should, as first mate, should be the one in charge now, since Tetra was absent, but even he now gave Link this accepting look. Link's close friendship to their captain and his strong speech just now had gone and done it: They seemed to accept Link as a substitute for their captain, at least for the moment. Or something along that lines.

Anyway, they would listen to him now and this was what counted.

"Gonzo!"

"Yes, Link!"

"Go back to the town and try to sell that unneeded remaining stuff! Maybe we can still get a few ruppees out of that!"

"Aye!"

"Now… Niko!"

"Yes, Sir, swabby Sir!!"

"You and Eyne will go with him and search for something, that we can use as sails! Ask the merchants, of necessary!"

"ALRIGHT!"

Eyne nodded as well:

"Oh… OK."

"Good. The rest of you: Try to get the ship as navigable as possible again!"

"Aye, Aye!"

Satisfied, Kaze put his hands onto his hips and stated:

"Finally! That's the spirit!"

"Awesome leadership qualities!", Toki stated in amazement.

Kaze blushed:

"Ahh… I was just copying Tetra… I picked quite a few things up from her in that one year we spent together on that ship…"

"Still, you actually got those guys to listen to you, even though they got seniority over you. That's quite an achievement!"

"Hm… dunno… They've always been easily impressible, you know…"

A third voice interrupted the conversation:

"Uhm… kid?"

"Huh?"

Link(Kaze) felt how somebody taped on his shoulder. He turned around to find Linebeck standing there:

"Well…"

"What's the matter, Linebeck?", he asked calmly.

Linebeck took a deep breath:

"You see kid… You know that I lost my ship and, well,… for some reason, it's also not looking to brightly for me in the money-department right now… ha… ha… Well… anyway… I do have some experience with Pirate ships, you know, because of Jolene and all…"

Link gave him an understanding, yet cheeky smile:

"You want to tag along with us, huh?"

"Uhm…. Yes."

Link laughed a little bit and then offered Linebeck his hand:

"Well, welcome to the team then!"

The mans eyes grew quite wide:

"W-What? Just like that? No terms, no price, no nothing? I can just come along?"

" 'Course, why not? We're friends, aren't we?"

"Sounded different yesterday…", Toki stated in the background with a smirk.

"And, just on a side note, I know how much you love the sea! The crew can surely learn quite a few things from you, haha."

"Oh…", Linebeck seemed slightly embarrassed:

"Well… I knew you would realize my true capabilities one day, kid! HA HA HA!!"

Kaze rolled his eyes:

„Don't read too much into this, OK?"

They took quite a few hours to assemble enough money, get some sails and prepare the ship, but together, the crew, the Links, Linebeck and Eyne managed to finally set out in the late afternoon. Luckily, Dragon Roost Island was not too far away… They'd arrive in the evening.

So they embarked for Dragon Roost, accompanied by the silent sounds of an Ocarina.

Toki, now not forced to scrub the deck by anyone, stood by the reeling and played Saria's and Epona's songs, just to relax a bit. Then, he continued with Zelda's lullaby… and got nostalgic.

Meanwhile, Kaze let the wind of the great sea blow into his face. He smiled.

So much ocean, nothing but water, as far as he could see…

But somewhere behind it, their new "Hyrule" was waiting. He just knew it. They had to find it…

The journey went on, eventless and calmly as planned, since Linebeck, with all his experience, had taken over the steering wheel and if Kaze knew one thing about him, it was that you could trust him with steering wheel. Back then, when he had been Linebeck's navigator on his ship, Linebeck had never failed to exactly keep the planned directions, regardless any sidewind or waves. And even though he was used to his steam-powered ship and had little to no experience with sailing, he managed to do just the same here.

Everything went smoothly.

Even the soft Ocarina sounds only stopped, when Toki was distracted by something gliding by the ship.

"Woah!"

He jumped up and leaned over the reeling to see what it was:

It was a person, flying into the same direction they were sailing to, to Dragon Roost Island. He closely resembled a human, but the person also had a beak and wide wings spreading from his arms.

"Wow!"

Fascinated, Toki looked after the flying person:

"What was that?!"

"A Rito.", Kaze answered, while approaching him: „They are the great sea's Postmen… Did you never see a Rito before?"

Toki shook his head:

"No… But the way he was flying…"

He closed his eyes, thinking for a moment:

"It reminds me on a Zora swimming… The movement and all looked very similar!"

"Hmm… Well, there are no living Zora around anymore…most people only know them from legends.", Kaze stated "But… A Rito once told me, that their ancestors could not fly, but had different special abilities… Maybe, there's a connection? Ha ha… So… Zora a swimming the same way Rito are flying, huh?"

Kaze grinned:

"I'd love to see that!"

"Really?"

"Of course! That must be so~ cool!"

"… Yes, it is!"

The two boys closed their eyes and started to daydream.

One of flying in the open sky and the other of diving in the deep sea, while the island of Dragon Roost slowly came into view…

_---Note_

_Kaze's Tricolor eyes. Yeah. How did I get that stupid idea, you ask?_

_Well, look at some Phantom Hourglass artwork. I did. I saw… green… and brown… and even some blue. Clearly, the designer couldn't make up his mind on what eye color Link was supposed to have, so he made him this awesome wonder of nature. O.o _

_In the artwork of Spirit Tracks, the weird mix is at least CONSTANT: A bit brown in the bottom and a greenish-blue shine above that._

_At least he was constant with Tetra/Zelda being blue-eyed… No, not that way!! (Although, it would apply to Tetra's character derailment in Phantom Hourglass… Lol, derailment. Because, you know, Spirit Tracks and rails and all… OK, I shut up. XD)_

_WATCH OUT, LINK'S GOT AUTHORITY!_

_Well, yelling like Tetra did surely help._

_I couldn't just throw Linebeck out of the story after destroying his dignity in the drinking chapter, so I let him tag along to give him a (narrow) chance to restore it…_

_The emphasis should actually be on "narrow", since he's not gonna do much… XD_

_Next temple: Fire temple._

_I believe that the Rito are descended from the Zora. Why else would Laruto be a Zora? For the Lulz? O.o_


	17. The dancer, the prince and the harpist

Chapter16:

The dancing girl, the prince and the hiding harpist

„ A rip, right there, were the portal between or worlds used to appear when opened… before I destroyed the mirror. I thought that maybe, someone created a second mirror. But when I examined the rip closer, I realized that the situation is much… much worse."

Midna took a deep breath, before she continued to talk to Zelda and Ilia, who were paying full attention to every single of her words:

"You probably know that our worlds are separated by… a special kind of wall, that should be absolutely indestructible and impenetrable, don't you, Zelda? Well, guess why I said "should"…"

Zelda was shocked:  
„You don't mean...?"

But, much to Zelda's horror, Midna nodded:

"Exactly. The wall is crumbling… or… Actually… „wall" might be a bit of a misnomer."

She said this, because she realized that they had to talk about this in a way, that also Ilia would understand, seeing the clueless look in her face.

"Imagine it as a kind of… fabric. Made of strings of the strongest material you can imagine. Now, imagine someone cutting a whole bunch of these strings with a pair of scissors and what would happen to the remaining tissue after this. This is pretty much what is happening right now. This is what produced that rip, which I was able to use as a portal to get here."

Hearing this, Ilia was startled as well:

"Huh?! But… how could something like this happen?!"

"I have absolutely no idea.", the Twili woman answered the girl, putting emphasis on the word "absolutely".

"That's why I came to Hyrule. I was hoping that you, Zelda, and Link could help me to find out what's happening and fix the problem. I thought, that if anyone could do it, it'd be Link, but-"

She quickly glanced at the sleeping young man:

"…now I am all out of ideas."

"As Princess of Hyrule, I also act as a priestess of the golden goddesses.", Princess Zelda stated "This includes Nayru, the Hylian goddess of wisdom and order. If I pray to her, we may receive help of some kind… maybe through the power I am guarding."

She enclosed her right hand in her left one.

"As ridiculous and pathetic I usually find relying on the powers of deities and nothing else, I'm afraid I'll have to agree with you.", Midna stated sighing "… I… I just can't come up with anything better."

"E…Excuse me…", Ilia carefully stated (she was slightly intimidated by Midna's regal and foreign appearance) "But… may I ask if you have any idea what happened to him… Twilight Princess? Because…"

Hope shone in her eyes:  
"Because I want to help him at any cost."

"Me too…", Midna answered. Once again, she looked over to Link in the bed in the corner of the room, but this time, she let her eyes rest on him…

"Oh boy… Just what did you get yourself into again now, Link..."

In silence, she kept looking at him melancholically for a few second. Then she rose from her chair and announced:

"I'll see what I can do."

She went over to her old friend, who was so motionless; he would have appeared to be dead, if he wasn't still breathing. Midna moved her hand around over his body, keeping a distance of a few inches while doing so. It almost seemed like she didn't dare to touch him. Closely, she examined everything about him, in order to spot anything notable or unusual… and finally, his left hand's back caught her attention.

"Wait a minute…"

She looked at it closer.

"That triangular mark… it's gone!"

And by that, she didn't just mean that it wasn't glowing… not even the birthmark-like spot on his skin was there anymore. Like it had been erased.

"Zelda!"

Midna turned around to her fellow Princess:

"Did the mark you have disappear as well?!"

"No.", Zelda answered, shaking her head "Actually, it even started to glow again, just a few days ago. It has not acted like this ever since Ganondorf was defeated, so… I was very surprised."

"But why did Link's mark disappear then?..."

Midna kept looking at the young man for some more time. He seemed so… lifeless. Almost like an empty shell…

…There had to be a reason… and a way…

She whispered:

"You do always find a way to get yourself into trouble, don't you? Well, that's what I get for letting my eyes off you for just a few tiny little months, I guess…"

The calm, melancholically atmosphere in the room as utterly disturbed, when a man suddenly pushed the door opened and stormed inside, addressing Princess Zelda:

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

Zelda quickly stood up.

"What happened?", she asked full of worry.

"We just received a message from Death Mountain!", the man stated nervously: "From the Goron Elders. It seems like the mountain would soon erupt!"

"Huh!"

All three of the women were shocked.

"But… But why?", Zelda asked „The volcano has been almost completely inactive for decades now! Why would it suddenly erupt?"

Midna turned to her:

"Something like this happening right now… If you ask me, that's not a coincidence! This got to have something to do with-"  
She didn't end the sentence, but Zelda understood regardless and nodded.

"We have to go to death mountain and take a look at the situation as quickly as possible!", she stated.

Midna nodded determined:

"No problem! I'll get us there in a blink of an eye."

"Ilia?"

Zelda looked at the girl with the very same determined look Midna just looked at Zelda.

"Would you observe Link, while we are gone?"

"O-Of course!", she stated "And… if he wakes up, I'll tell him everything that happened!"

"If he just would…", Midna whispered. "OK! We'll leave now, Zelda!"

"Alright."

The two Princesses left the room, along with the messenger, leaving Ilia behind alone.

Alone with that almost lifeless doll that was supposed to be Link.

As she once again looked at him… despair befell her.

Quickly, she took his hand, hoping, that he'd move it and enclose hers in it…

"We all… We all need you here, Link! We need you, so please…"

But nothing happened.

"Please… wake up!", she pleaded.

Nothing.

Ilia was on the verge of crying. She starred at the blank, Triforce mark-less hand.

"You were always… so full of energy… and courage… where did they go… where did your energy and courage go… where are you… Link?"

But she got no answer.

Again.

One last time, she whispered his name…

"Link."

---

"Huh?"

The two boys looked up in surprise, as they left the ship, stopping to walk.

Kaze looked around:

"Weird, I just felt like… never mind."

He turned forward, not knowing that Toki just had the very same feeling as well… but he didn't tell him. It didn't seem important right now.

And he was distracted by something else right now anyway…

By one of the most baffling changes in an environment he'd ever see.

"Wow…This is really… death mountain?"

As deadly and hot the flames of a volcano's lava were, as calm and beautiful was the dragon roost island.

While he couldn't spot a single Goron here anymore, he saw plenty winged people resembling the one who passed their ship on the way… the Rito. Children were laughing and playing, while many postmen arrived and took of every minute. It was a lively atmosphere, in complete contrast to the Death Mountain and Goronia of the past…

"Wheew… so many people… Hey! The Bomb Flowers are still growing!"

He stopped and bowed down to take a look at one of the black fruits, which grew on the ground near a tiny pond. Kaze bowed down as well and smiled:

"Yeah, those things can be quite useful, huh?"

"And… the Gorons?"

Toki looked at Kaze now and he seemed a bit nervous:

"Don't tell me, they died out!"

"The Gorons…? Oh! No, no, they're not gone!", Kaze laughed "Actually, nobody quite knows, where they went to, but from time to time, they come here on rafts to trade goods and make some money. They're quite successful."

"Really?"

"Yes! I made a few deals with them yet as well!"

"Wow… the Gorons as traveling merchants…", Toki said surprised "Next you tell me that the Gerudo are shepherds now!"

"Gerudo?", Kaze asked slightly confused "What's that?"

Now was Eyne's turn to share some information:

"A tribe of warrior-women, who lived in the desert area of the ancient Hyrule! Ganondorf was their king."

Kaze's eyes grew wide, as he heard those two sentences in this connection.

Ganondorf was the king of a tribe of warrior _women_?!

…

Better not think about that too long.

Toki was thinking of completely different things anyway:

"Hey, come, let's go inside! I can't wait to see what it looks like there now!"

Impatiently, he proceeded to jump up and down. Kaze nodded and turned towards the entrance of the cave that served as the Rito's home now:

"Ok, let's go in then. "

The two of them proceeded into the cave, where it was even livelier than outside.

"Welcome to the Rito Post office!", Kaze stated "This is where all the letters and packages from all over the great sea go, before they are delivered to their destination!"

"Cool…", Toki stated, but it didn't seem like it were the facts about the Great Sea's post-system, that amazed him, rather than the sheer appearance of the place itself.  
"That's Goronia, I'm sure! But… wow, those guys surely redecorated the place a lot! Well, I guess there's great difference between the needs of a Goron and the needs of a bird-person, huh?"

"Yeah, probably!", Kaze laughed.

When his voice echoed through the room, it was just a matter of mere seconds, before his presence was noticed:

"Hey, look over there! Isn't that Link?!"

"Link? Oh! The kid, who managed to sort 25 letters in a row in a few seconds!"

"And he killed the beast in the sanctuary and calmed the great Valoo down!!"

"He managed to cheer up prince Komali!"

"Wow, he's my great idol, dude! I need an autograph!!"

"I need TWO! PLEASE!!"

"SQUEEEE!!!"

"What was that about you not being famous again?", Toki asked, while remembering back to their first conversation where Kaze happened to tell him that not that many people knew about his actions as "Hero of Winds".

Kaze blushed, even though he seemed at least a little bit proud of his fame here:

"Ahh… I guess that's because I took this part time job here… otherwise the people here wouldn't remember me that good…"

"You were _saving the world_ and yet found the time to do a part-time job?", Eyne asked skeptically.

Kaze rolled his eyes:  
"I had no choice! I needed the money to pay that dumb Tingle to decode my charts."

"T-T-Tingle?!"

Toki gulped as he heard the name, praying that his ears were playing tricks on him…

Sadly, those hopes were destroyed:

"Yeah, Tingle, a guy in a green jumpsuit, who thought me to be a fairy for some stupid rea—uhm, Toki?"

Toki looked, like he was going to have seizure any moment… He was just standing there, like petrified, starring into the air in horror.

Kaze started to wave his hand in front of the other boy's face:  
"Hey! Are you alright? C'mon!... Say something!"

"T…Ti…Ti-ti-ti-ti---"

"…Hello?"

Eyne examined the seemingly paralyzed boy closer:

"Hmm… A clear case of "Not-Again"-Panic, if you ask me. I guess he has kind of a bad history with people in green jumpsuits who mistake him for a fairy."

"Oh. I can sympathize with him then."

"Hey! Link!"

Kaze turned around when he heard somebody else calling his name: He found Komali standing there, waving at him:

"Hallo!! Long time not seen!"

"Ha Ha! Hello, Komali!!", Kaze replied with loud voice, as the young prince came run over to them:

"So… how are you?"  
"Oh, me? I'm fine, thank you!", Kaze answered „And you?"

"Great! Just imagine, I recently managed to fly 500 Miles without a break! I didn't even get tired!", the prince announced proudly.

"Wow, that's awesome!", Kaze stated amazed "And… How's Medli doing those days?"

"Oh—"

The smile disappeared from Komali's face as he heard the name:

"I wish I could tell you… but I don't know."

"Huh?"

Kaze gave him a surprised look, as Komali proceeded to explain:

"I didn't get a chance to talk to her ever since the incident back then… Many people saw her entering and leaving the island and some even led a short chat with her, but she never stays long and nobody knows where she's always disappearing to afterwards. Also, she seems to be avoiding me… I'm the only one who didn't see her even once yet ever since she first left…"

He slowly let his head sink down:

"Maybe, it's because she hates me…"

"Komali, what are you talking about?!", Kaze quickly threw in "Medli doesn't hate you! She never would."

"And why doesn't she want to talk to me then?"

"…"

Link couldn't answer to this question… No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't find any explanation for this strange behavior on Medli's part… did something happen after they dropped her of on Dragon Roost back then…?

Komali sighed:

"Sometimes… I hear her playing her harp outside. But when I come greet her, she's always already gone. I did even hear her taking off when I got outside a few times. She's avoiding me, it's obvious… I don't even know why she suddenly left the island back then… And now, she doesn't want to see me… Medli…"

Poor guy. He must have been feeling horrible right now.

But what should Link tell him? That Medli left to become a sage? Even if he believed him, Link couldn't do that… he promised Medli not to. Also, this still didn't explain why Medli seemed to be running away from Komali.

"By the way… who's this young man? Why's he wearing the same clothes as you?", Komali now asked Link, obviously referring to Toki, who was still "Tingle-Froozen".

"Oh… just a sec…", Link(Kaze) said.

He turned to Toki and snapped his fingers in front of the boy's face:  
"Hey!"

He snapped them twice more, until Toki on his part finally snapped _out _of it:  
"Woow!—Oh! Sorry… I just had a terrible day-mare of…"  
"Thank you, but I actually don't really need a description of that, especially if it involves Tingle…"

"Ah… yeah, you're probably right…"  
He held his head for a few more seconds, like he was still having a headache:

"O…K… I'm fine now… Move on with… whatever you where just telling that guy…"

"Alright."  
Kaze turned to Komali again:

"Komali, this is--- ah--- my cousin thrice removed, from the motherly side of my family, Link…"

"Oh! Another Link?", Komali looked surprised „What a weird coincidence!"

"Yeah, we often get that… heh heh…"

"And the green tunics?", Komali asked.

"It's… kind of a tradition.", Kaze answered, speaking the truth.

"Oh, Ok then…"

Komali kept looking at Toki in interest, while Toki was reaching him his hand and smiled:

"Pleased to meet you! I'm Link! And… your name is Komali, right?"

"Yes!", Komali answered. He shook Toki's hand. „ Prince Komali of the Rito. It's my pleasure as well! Every friend and relative of our friend Link is also a friend of the Rito!"

"Well, Komali…", Kaze quickly tried to get to the point: „My cousin, me and our fairy here…"

"Hi!", Eyne quickly stated.

„…need to get into the temple inside the volcano as soon as possible! You think your father would allow it?"

„If it's you, of course!", Komali answered: „I just have to go and ask him first… But I'm sure, he'll allow it. He knows that you're very strong and capable of taking care of yourself… Do you need to see the great Valoo?"

"No, not exactly.", Kaze said „But there is someone inside the temple, who we need to talk to."

"Oh, you mean another guardian spirit? I never knew there was another one beside the great Valoo."

"There is. Trust me.", Toki stated with a nod „I know for sure that this is the right place."

"Hmm… if you say it… alright. I'll tell father of your wish to climb the mountain. Consider yourself our guests in the meantime!... Oh, and you should defiantly watch the dancers!", Komali stated grinning: "We are soon celebrating the festival of flames, honoring the goddess of the sun! The dancer's are already training very hard for the competition! And they're really good, I tell you!"

Kaze laughed:

"All right, we'll take a look!"

Komali nodded cheerfully, before he turned around, waved one last time and ran up the stairs, to the cabin of his father, the chieftain.

Kaze and Toki then went off to take a look at the people's activities… Komali was right, they were obviously preparing for celebrations. Decorating, shopping, setting up stages…

Kaze couldn't help but laugh… 2 holydays of 2 different islands so close to each other… what a coincidence.

"The goddess of the sun…", Toki finally thought aloud "He must have been talking about Din then…"

"Yeah, probably.", Kaze said. "You know, even though we still worship the gods, most of us don't have names for them anymore. I first came to know the golden goddesses names not too long ago myself. I guess Tetra and me are the only humans alive who still know them by their names."

"But…", Toki seemed skeptical "Celebrating a festival to honor Din…? I don't know…"

"Huh? What's so wrong about this?"

Toki sighed:  
"Din was the guardian goddess of the Gerudo when they were still around… And she's also the goddess that Ganondorf's Triforce corresponds to…"

Kaze just shrugged:

"Well, I guess it wasn't her will for him to have it… At least I hope that."

"Of course not!", Eyne suddenly stated in respect for the deity "Din may be the goddess of power, but she's also the goddess of benevolence! She's the deity of the sun, the sands and the seasons and guardian goddess of the honorable warriors and the dancers! Ganon abusing her power… this was nothing but a horrible, horrible, horrible coincidence!"

Toki leaned back a bit:

"A dancer-goddess… huh? I never knew that…"

Eyne nodded:

"Most depictions show her as a young dancing girl or Gerudo, while Nayru is often portrayed similar to a great fairy and Fafore as flute-playing forest-spirit. But when portrayed together, next to each other, they're always shown as three young women in a golden aura!

"Are all fairies as knowledgeable as you?", Kaze stated in surprise (realizing, that amnesiac Ciela was no measure he could use)

"Yes!", answered Eyne and Toki in stereo.

"Navi knew even more!", Toki stated "She even had the ability to feel the weak points of monsters!"

"Really? Can you do that as well, Eyne?", Kaze asked in interest.

She let her head hang down:

"No… not really… I'm only a very low tier of fairy…my abilities are limited."

"You still do know a lot!", Kaze stated and Toki nodded:

"Yeah, I never knew the goddesses had that many different meanings!"

"Oh…"

Eyne seemed a little cheered up:

"Tee Hee… Thank you a lot… I'm trying my best!"

"NOW! CLAP 2, 3, 4 – CLAP! 2, 3, 4! C'mon everybody!!"

„Huh?"

The boys turned around in surprise:

A huge "flock" of Rito had gathered in one place. Quick and rhythmic music was playing and the people were cheering for somebody… The two boys went closer and tried to get through the masses of people to see, what this whole excitement was about-

There was a Rito dancing in the middle of them.

A beautiful Rito-woman, with long, dark red hair, tied up to a pony tails with a ribbon. And she was dancing in completely harmony with the rhythm of the music and clapped in the tact:

"HEY! 2, 3, 4 HEY! 2, 3, 4… Everybody! You gotta join in! Don't just stop!!! Ha ha ha!"

"Wow… she's pretty good.", Kaze stated.

"Like a flame in the wind!", Toki added.

A Rito next to them laughed:

"Heh heh. That's Radin!"

"Radin?"

"She's won the annual dancing contest at the festival of flames 5 years in succession now! And she's going to compete this year again as well… But…"

"But?", Kaze asked in curiosity.

"But usually, she's accompanied by Medli's harp for her dance. "

The Rito shook his head:

"That girl has been appearing and disappearing completely at random lately… the gods know if she'll actually show up for the contest!"

"Mister… do you have any clue why Medli seems to avoid talking to prince Komali?", Kaze asked.

"No. Nobody has even the slightest clue what's wrong with her. And that's why so many people are worried. If Medli fails to be there at the festival, there will be no harp in the songs for the competition! She's the only one around here who knows how to play that instrument… It would be such a loss if we'd have to replace her harp with a different instrument. "

"We'll tell her, when we see her!", Kaze said "And we'll try to persuade her to stop disappearing all the time!"

The Rito laughed once more:  
"Ha Ha, very funny! Now, listen, kid! If not even us adults manage to exchange more than 3 sentences with her at a time, how do you think you'll—"

The Rito now finally looked at the boys next to him… and realized who one of them was:

"Oh! You're that Link-kid, aren't you? The one who…Excuse me… I didn't know."

„Ah, no sweat…"

They kept watching the dancing-girl, Radin. Even though her dance seemed very complex and exotic, she seemed to have no problem to execute every single move correctly and still seemed very relaxed and natural while doing so. And she even kept motivating the audience to clap along with her.

Suddenly, a loud cue occurred in the music and Radin jumped and revealed her wings, which were hidden in her sleeves all the time. She danced so fast and wild, that her feathers started flying around. The masses shouted in excitement.

"Wow, amazing!!"

"Like a goddess herself!!"

"She'll be named winner this year as well for sure!"

"Of course! Does anyone expect anything different from her?"

"But it's such a pity that she won't be able to dance "Sun's Circle" again!"

"Well, without the harpist, it can't be helped, I guess."

"Yes…"

"Ahh…"

The Rito next to the boys sighed once again:

"Really, I wonder what is going on inside that girl right now… Why she acting like this? She was always such a considerate attendant and everybody knows this. This behavior just doesn't fit into the picture…"

"Does really nobody have an idea why this could be?", Toki asked and the man shook his head:

"Nobody… Ahh… that girl is just a child… It's sad when so young people come down with such strange behavior all of the sudden."

Suddenly, Kaze felt a little bit upset as well. All those people were sad because they feared that Medli wouldn't help Radin performing her dance… And they were also worried for her wellbeing. Why? This just wasn't like Medli at all! The Medli he knew was a very responsible person. Why would she make this people worry like that? No… It just wasn't like her at all…

"Hey, Kid!"

Kaze looked up. Radin was glancing over to him, saying:

"What's up with the long face? Don't you like my dance?"

She winked.

Everybody was looking at Kaze. He blushed:

"Uhm—No! It's great, really!"

Radin kept on dancing. She winked once again, this time with the other eye:

"Well, then just smile, OK? Nobody likes a frowning face!"

Kaze laughed:

"Alright!"

-~-

It had already gotten late, since they arrived very late that day. The boys, the pirates and Linebeck as well had taken quarter in one of the more expensive inns – Komali managed to convince the manager to let them stay for free.

Before going to sleep, the Link's made the last preparations for their journey to the temple the next day. They knew that they'd needed to double-check on everything, if they wanted it to go smoothly, especially considering that they were entering a volcano, which was nothing to kid with.

"Grappling Hook?"

"Check!"

"Hookshot?"

"Check!"

"Water and Proviant?"

"Check… the rest of the milk you bought too."

"Hmm… Milk…"

"Boomerang?"

"Oh! …Check!"

„Bow?"

„Check!"

„Not inflammable shields?"

„Check!"

„Your dignity?"

„Che--- HEY!!"

Toki laughed:

„I'm just kidding! Why should I question my own dignity?"

"Yeah, considering you already did that in the bar yesterday.", Kaze replied with a big grin on his face.

"Hey!"

"Now we're even! Ha!"

The two of them laughed loudly, when they suddenly heard music from outside coming in through the window…

Silent singing accompanied it.

"Huh?"

Kaze turned to the window:

"The Earth god's lyrics?... weird, I didn't know anyone around here knew the s-- Hey… that's… that's Medli's harp!"

He quickly jumped up and ran to the window, to look outside. And then, he actually spotted the silhouette of the young Rito girl outside on the cliff.

"Quickly!"

He grabbed Toki's arm and pulled him after him, as he ran out of the room, down the stairs and outside, to the cliff, where Medli was standing and playing her instrument.

"Hmm…"

Medli stopped playing. She took a look at her harp and sighed:

"I wonder if I should… no… that wouldn't work… but I can't just… on the other hand… ahh…"

"MEDLI!"

"Huh?... Link?"

In surprise, Medlie turned around and actually found the young boy in the green clothes running up to her… accompanied by someone who, judged by looks, could have easily been his brother.

As soon as he reached her, Link quickly grabbed her right hand and looked into her eyes, like he had known that Medli had been thinking about flying away that moment… But she wouldn't have done it anyway. Her manners didn't allow her, to not great somebody she knew…

So she quickly fakes a smile:

"Oh--- Link! How nice to meet you again! Is that a friend of yours?"

"Uhm… yes!"

Toki waved, just to show that he knew that she meant him.

Medli nodded approving with her faked smile.

For a moment, Kaze didn't know what to say now… he couldn't just bombard Medli with all those questions he promised the others to ask her, could he?

…Well, he could try.

"Medli…", he started "Excuse me, but could it be, that you're…"

"Huh?"

Medli backed of a little bit, probably feeling what Link was about to ask.

"Could it be, that you're avoiding to talk to Komali?"

"…"  
Medli pressed her harp to her body and said nothing. She looked at the floor.

"Medli!"  
"…"

She nodded a little.

"Why?", Kaze asked as calm as possible."

"I…"

She still didn't look up again:

"… I'm scared of talking to him again… I don't know what I should say… I have no way of excusing myself."

"Excusing what?"

"Disappearing without saying a word…", she said and took a deep breath.

"When I took on my responsibility as a sage, I didn't know if I'd ever return to the island, so I choose not to say goodbye to Komali... I didn't want him to remember me as a sage who left in glory and honor… I wanted to be who I always was in his memory. But… when everything was over and I returned her again for the first time and wanted to visit him… Just before trying to enter his room, I heard him crying. He was crying because of me… because I left. I heard him saying that loud and clear… I hurt him so much…"

Her eyes got wet:

"I hurt Komali, because I just left without considering what he might feel like because of this… Why should he forgive me? Just leaving without telling anyone… He has every reason to hate me for this!"

"You have no idea!", Link suddenly shouted at her. She backed of in surprise, as he proceeded to tell her:

"You think Komali hates you?! He thinks it's the other way around, because you avoiding him to see you!"

"W-What…?"

"He's so upset because you won't come to see him again, he thinks that he must've done something wrong! And it's not just him: The whole island is worried because of you!"

"R-really?"

Medli seemed to be hit by this as a surprise. It looked like she had never even considered that the others might be worried about her in any way.

"And, aside from that, if you refuse to go anywhere near Komali, who shall play the harp at the festival then?"

"Huh!"

Medli was startled:

"Ah! The dance! I completly forgot about that… I'm supposed to play there… Oh no… What am I gonna do?..."

"You'll go to the festival and play!", Link said in a determined voice:

"B-But… I don't know what I should tell Komali if I see him!"

"Just show him, that you're fine and tell him, that it wasn't his fault that you left! Medli, he's worried sick!"

"…"

Medli was silent for a moment. She looked like she was thinking about something, her expression kept changing back and forth, like she didn't know what to think…

Finally, she rose her head with a determined look in her eyes:

"You are right! Link… I made a mistake! Running away from Komali is not going to make him feel better about me leaving! I'll face him and tell him, that it was not his fault and… and that I still care about him a lot!"

"That's the spirit!"

Link laughed, as Medli put away her harp and bowed down a little:

"Thank you, Link… Without you, I might have continued to act as silly as this forever… I can't believe how stupid I was."

"Ah, it was nothing…"

"By the way, who's you're friend?"

Medli took a closer look at Toki, who was obviously quite glad to finally be noticed again:

"Ah, I'm just here to enjoy the nice view.", he joked.

Kaze decided to go through the usual procedure:

"Medli, this is a distant relative of mine from Outset I—"

"No, he's more than that… right?"

"Huh?"  
Medli winked at him:

"You can't fool me. Not only does he look a lot like you, he's also got the same… aura as you."

"Aura?", Link asked.

Medli closed her eyes:

„I mean the way his presence feels… When I look at him, I feel courage, kindness, inner strength and a strong will… all the same as with you."

Kaze was surprised. Medli could feel all this? Was that one of her abilities as sage?...

"So… who is this boy really? Huh?", Medli's interest seemed great.

The Links looked at each other for a short moment and nodded.

Kaze looked at Medli again:

"Do you know of the Legend of the Hero of Time?"

"Of course!", she nodded "he was the legendary hero who wielded the Master Sword and responsible for Ganon's first defeat."

"Yes. ", Kaze answered "OK… then, listen to me Medli. I'm gonna tell you something now, that we heard from another sage, not to long ago…"

-~-

When the next morning arrived, the first sunrays pierced the glass of the Inn's windows, tickling the faces of two sleeping boys…

_Just 10 more minutes_

Two minds thought in union.

_Please let me just sleep a few more seconds, Grandma—_

_/_

_-- Navi, I'm so tired… please just don't just wake me up like that again…_

The similar thoughts crossed over between the boys, without them even noticing. They heard each other's inner voice in their sleep, but their perception of this was so faint anyway, that they couldn't realize it. They just wanted to continue their first good night-sleep in days… undisturbed… in peace and calm and….

"HEY, LINK, GET UP!!!!"

"WOAAH!"

"ARGHH!!"

The two boys hit their heads on the low ceiling of their bunk beds in the very same moment and shouted "OUCH!!" in pain.

And this was when Linebeck and Niko started to laugh in amusement.

"And this…", Linebeck started „…is why I let him have the upper bed on my ship. The ONLY reason!"

"Oh yeah, that's so worth it!", Niko was crying of laughter „I gotta tell that to the boys, so we can hold a log above his head from now on every morning! Swabby's permanently oversleeping anyway!"

"I'm HERE and LISTENING, you know?!", Link hissed at them, rubbing the hit spot on his forehead… guessing that this would make one huge, huge bruise.

Toki was trying to somehow stop the pounding:

"Arrgh…. HEY! That's not funny at all! I still need my head!"

He grabbed his pillow and flung it at Niko's face-

Causing Linebeck to laugh even more.

"HA HA!"

"YOU shut up!!"

"UGH!

Kaze's pillow banged against Linebeck's face.

Meanwhile, the rest of the pirates had woken up due to the noise… which resulted in Nudge jumping out of his bed and shouting:

"EVERYBODY! PILLOW FIGHT!!!"

"YEAH!!!!"

In a matter of seconds, the room turned into a battlefield of feathers, cloth and loose strings which were originally supposed to hold everything together.

After approximately 5 minutes, two teams had formed, which where now leading the never ending war of pillows against each other:

Team "Epic Quest Game Of The Legend", led by Toki and Eyne.

And

Team "Cel Shaded Journey of Awesome" under the command of Kaze and Linebeck.

And, yeah, nobody quite knew where they got those names from.

It was probably for the better.

"ATTACK, ARMIES OF HYRULE!!", Toki exclaimed.

"VANQUISH THEM, MY WARRIORS OF THE OCEANS!!", Kaze roared.

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

A cloud of snow white feathers obscured fighting parties, as the walls started shaking wildly.

Suddenly, door was flung open:

"SIIIIIIILENCE!!!"

And the battle froze like a ChuChu hit by an ice-arrow.

An old, bulky Rito woman was standing in the doorway, piercing every single present person with her angry eyes, upon seeing the chaos they created. She was truly terrifying…Well, at least she terrified Linebeck.

On the other hand, that's not a very hard task to accomplish.

"What…", the Landlady (because that's what she was) started: "…are you people thinking who you are?! Just because you are friends of the prince it doesn't mean that this inn just belongs too you barbarians!! There are PAYING guests here, who would like to SLEEP! And I hope you are aware that you have to replace _every single ripped pillow_, aren't you?!"

The men quickly proceeded to hide their pillows behind their backs… they all didn't exactly look like new anymore…

The Landlady shouted:

"I don't want to hear even a single PEEP more from you, or you'll pay, no matter what the prince said!! GOOD MORNING!!"

With this words, she left the room and loudly swung the door shut.

"Wow…" Linebeck sighed: "Now I know whom I'd rather not meet in the dark! Ugly witch…Ugh…"

„…Gonzo, uhm… do we even have enough rupees to pay all those pillows?", Mako asked worried.

Gonzo slowly shook his head, eyes wide open.

"Uhmm…"

Toki took a look at the pillow in his hands… or, more correctly: At whatever was left of it…

"Another question: Does anyone happen to know how to sew? Heh… heh…."

-~-

"Komali!"

The Links, fully equipped with pretty much everything they could use on their trip to the temple, waved at the prince from the distance. He was waiting for them by the spring.

"Good morning!", he greeted them with a smile: „Well? Are you ready to go in there?"

Kaze nodded enthusiastic

"Of course!"

"Double-ready!", Toki added, making a fist with his left hand.

Komali laughed:

"I wish I was brave enough to guide you, but I'm still a bit of a coward after all, heh heh…"

He rubbed his back and blushed a bit:

"I have no problem with climbing up there, but actually going inside the mountain… that's a bit too, uhm…"

"Huh."  
Toki shrugged:

„So what? Not everybody can be like us two."

He suddenly grinned:

"Otherwise, there'd be nobody left to keep us from doing stupid things, right?"

Kaze had to laugh when he heard this (even he had to admit that this was true) and Komali giggled a little bit:

"Heh Heh Heh… still... If I was a little bit braver, maybe Medli wouldn't have…"

He stopped talking and looked to the ground.

"Komali… she's-„, Kaze started, but Komali had already continued again:

"I'm still just a scared little brat after all, huh?"

"Prince, that's not true!"

The voice came from above. Komali looked up from the floor.

He heard the sounds of a harp and a high pitched giggle.

"M-Medli?"

He turned around.

She just smiled at him:

"Actually, I think you became a very strong young man!"

In disbelieve, Komali watched, how Medlie jumped from the ledge she was standing on and glided down to them. She had barely touched the floor, when Komali already jumped into her arms and hugged her:

"Medli! Where were you?! I missed you!"

Medli blushed. She stuttered:

„Ah- I… I am very sorry, prince… Did I make you worry?"

"YES! And quit calling me "prince"!", he said „Medli, we've been friends ever since we were little, I want you to call me by my name!"

"Komali…"

A short silence.

"I… I have to apologize… When I left the island all of the sudden last year… I didn't mean to hurt you! I'm so sorry I didn't tell anybody about it… But there was something I had to do… I was afraid that it would… change the way you think about me…"

She sighed:

"I'm just a girl, like every other girl on this island… and because I was scared that this would change if anybody knew where I went… I was afraid that you'd not… understand…"

Medli let her head sink:

"I'm the one who's a coward…"

"Hey, don't worry about that anymore, alright?", Komali stated full of joy: "What matters is that you're finally back again!--- Oh, that's right, there was something I wanted to give you… hold on a minute-"

He took something out from underneath his bolero:

A white flower.

Medli looked surprised:

"A Dragondaisy? For me?"

Komali smiled:

"I know that those are your favorite, so I plucked one everyday, so I could give it to you when you come back!"

He put it in her hand:

"For the best friend I ever had and will ever have!"

"But… Komali…"

"Listen, I don't know what was going on the past few months and I won't make you tell it to me if you don't want to. All I know is that you've always been there for me when I really needed it since when I was little and that nobody knows me better than you! I couldn't wish for a better friend, really!"

Medli smiled. She smelled a bit on the flower:

"You're such a kind boy, Komali… This island couldn't have a better prince than you… And… And I'm glad that I was allowed to take care of you for such a long time! It has always been fun!"

„Welcome home, Medli!"

„Thank you…"

The two oft hem turned around and looked at two Links, who had quietly watched everything.

Komali said:

"Link… that's your doing, isn't it? Thank you so much!"

The two boys blushed a little bit.

They didn't do much, just talking to Medli… It really wasn't a that great deal…

Komali smiled at them:

"If I just knew how to thank you..."  
"Oh!"

Medli seemed to remember something:

"Wait a moment!"

She longed into her bag and pulled something out:

A shining white crystal with a symbol engraved in it's inside.

She reached it to the two Links, who examined it in interest.

"Hey… That's a spell-crystal, isn't it?", Toki asked.

Medli nodded:

"I found it in the temple, not to long ago. I have been unable to use it, so I have no idea what it does… But maybe it will prove to be of use for you one day, Link!"

"It will, I'm sure!"

Kaze took the crystal from Medli and stored it in his bag,

"Thank you, Medli!"

She smiled:

"It was the least I could do."

Komali and she had been holding hands for the past few minutes and didn't let go of each other's yet.

"I think… I will take my time till I next return to the temple…"

She looked at Komali:

"Because I have a lot explain."

"I'm very excited to hear the whole story!", Komali stated and he also looked like it.

The Links laughed.

Kaze turned to Toki:

"And now…", he said "…I think we've got a rendezvous with that volcano!"

"Yeah… And we'd better not let it wait, I think!", Toki grinned with enthusiasm.

The two of them took a glance at the enormous mountain before them…

Which was filled by burning, hot, deadly lava. Yet another obstacle they'd have to overcome on their way to the fire temple's long forgotten inner sanctuary.  
_  
---Note  
_

_This the longest chapter yet and, with over 20 pages, also one of the longest chapters in the whole fanfiction, but I guess you already noticed this. I don't quite know what possessed me back then to make this darn chapter that long… oh, wait *reads old, german author's note*_

_Ah, now I remember. I didn't know where to split it. That explains a lot…_

_The dancing girl Radin is my own creation. Her name is a pun on "Radiant" and "Din", but it's also a reference to the Zelda series' tendency to change one name into another by adding a "La" in front of it. (LA-Nayru; LA-Ruto) "La" and "Ra" are the same sound in Japanese and "Radin" just sounds better than "Ladin"... also, "Ladin", makes me think of "Aladdin". XD_

_No, despite the name, there is no direct connection between the goddess Din or the oracle Din and this Rito woman. She's also not going to have much more than a very minor role. She's a plot-device for later chapters more than anything. _

_The Pillowfight scene emerged from my head when I was… on my non-existent drugs, I guess. O.o;_

_Seriously, I have NO IDEA, how I came up with this. I just… did…_

_The team-names are my pure opinions on the respective games. Because there is no such thing as a non-awesome Zelda game, (CDi NEVER HAPPENED, DAMN IT!) they only come in different flavors of awesome. _

_Medli and Komali .(Or Medolie and Komori, as their german names go… I kinda like those better)_

_Because every fanfic needs a certain amount of "AWWWW!!"_

…_To be honest, I had to rewrite huge junks of Medli's dialogue, because I realized that her behavior didn't make a whole lot of sense in the german text. ^^;_

_At this point, I'd like to thank everybody for the great reviews! Guys, you are the best! ^^ I'm the happiest little fangirl in the great wide world! *Girly sparkle*_

_Anyway, when one review called TWW Link's eyes "weird Mary Sue eyes", I had to giggle... because that's EXACTLY what I first thought when I wrote this scene. It's just... he really DOES have this kind of eyes! Well, at least judged by the artwork. I'm trying to twist quite a few clishees and play around with Fantheories in this fanfic, so I guess some of you are in for a surprise regarding the eye-issue... Don't worry, the reason is nothing klishee and stupid like "OMG HE HAS A SECRET POWA NOBADY NEEEW OF!!" or "HE'S ACTUALLY HALF SHEIKAH HALF ZORA HALF LOKOMO!!!" -.-;  
_

_By the way, I played through Spirit Tracks now. OMG, the story and cutscenes were awesome!! But there were too few important characters for my taste… (As you may have already noticed, I love characters) I don't remember which song I originally had in mind when I made Radin dance in this chapter, but after playing ST, I guess the "Train Training/Goron Minigame" music fits it pretty good! _

_The best thing about it is, that nothing in Spirit Tracks truly contradicts anything that happens in my fanfiction, so I can just keep on writing/translating without feeling like a complete N00b!! XD_

_Oh yeah, did I already mention that this fanfic gets pretty dark latter on? Thank the TP elements and Link's angels (I'm so gonna stick to that name) for it._


	18. Hot topic

Chapter 17:

Hot topic

„Uhh… It's so hot…"

Kaze was sweating whole buckets of water. Toki didn't seem to be feeling much better, but he bared it with a shrug:

"It was way hotter the last time I was here. The volcano was much more active back then. I can tell you, that was some real HEAT!"

"And you _survived_ that?", Kaze wheezed, unable to imagine it possibly getting any hotter without their clothes catching fire.

"I was very well equipped and had a great Navigator with me!"

Kaze couldn't help it… But somehow, it seemed like it had gotten much, _much_ hotter in here since the last time he explored the inside of Dragon Roost Mountain or, as Toki called it, "Death Mountain".

And they'd have to climb down even deeper into the volcano… closer to the lava.

Oh Joy.

"Hmm…", Eyne was hovering beside them, anxiously. Even though the heat didn't seem to affect her much, something obviously still bothered her:

"Something is wrong with this mountain, very, very wrong… it just feels so~ very weird!"

//Couldn't agree more…//, Kaze thought to himself, while still trying to somehow bear the incredible heat.

Toki, however, who only knew this mountain as, well… Death Mountain, which, as the name already implies, is a deadly mountain (duh), couldn't really understand the fairy's worries:

"What do you mean by that, Eyne?"

"I don't know.", she said "But something here scares me… I really feel like hiding…and I don't even know from what…"

"And I wonder, why it is _that_ hot in here all of the sudden.", Kaze finally stated "OK, granted, I could just be imagining it, but I swear the heat was _bearable_ the last time I went down here! Something's-"

"We got to turn right here!", Toki interrupted him suddenly.

He pointed at a cross-road before them, where the ground was plastered with shining marble-panels.

"That's the way to the inside of the temple."

"Exactly the opposite direction from the way up to the dragon's sanctuary.", Kaze stated. Of course, this made sense. "No wonder I didn't notice the temple last time I went here."

The three of them took the right way and got to a part of the cave, which wall's where completely covered in polished marble panels, which were decorated with symbols and writing. Soon, they had to stop when a lava filled pool blocked their way.

"Hm… now I don't really know where to go…", Toki admitted slightly embarrassed.

"I think we should go that way!", Eyne stated "I can sense a great power there!"

She pointed at a corridor, not to far away.

Toki nodded:

"That must be Darunia! Come on!"

The group moved along, even deeper into the mountain.

"Goddesses, hot, so hot, so horribly hot…", Kaze wheezed, seriously playing with the thought of putting an ice arrow to his neck.

Even Toki was breathing a little bit heavier now:

"Yeah… you're right… You know, actually, I could…"

"Something's coming!", Eyne shouted.

"Huh?"

And like on cue, a horde of ChuChus suddenly appeared out of nowhere and circled them.

"OH, please not now!", Kaze exclaimed "I'm really not in the mood to fight in this stupid heat!!"

"Do you think we have a choice?!", Toki asked.

"No, not really… Argh…"

The two boys drew their blades, while Eyne hid under Kaze's cap with a short squeak. They started to slay the ChuChus systematically. And, given that ChuChus are not exactly the strongest breed of monster, they were soon history.

Toki put his sword away:

"OK, and now, let's move o—"

He didn't get any farther than this:

A little army of Stalfos was storming towards them.

"M-More?!"

" I don't get it! Why are those monsters so darn persistent lately?! ", Kaze asked, when he was already busy dodging one of the skeletons' attacks. He quickly stroke back.

"Ugh! We just have to keep on fighting!!", Toki said, drawing his sword again. But the heat continued to wear them out and their fighting-power and moral started to drop in spades. Still, they somehow managed to reduce the number of the Stalfos down to 3.

Toki jumped to Kaze's site and took a deep breath:

"OK… I'll take the right one, you the left one… afterwards…

"…we'll finish off the middle one together. Alright!", Kaze ended the sentence. Immediately, they stormed towards the monsters and attacked with all their remaining strength.

"HAA! Out of our way!!"

Kaze swung his sword to strike and used so much force doing this, the feedback actually knocked off his cap from his head…

Along with Eyne.  
"Ah! Outch!"

The little fairy fell to the floor, unnoticed by the two fighting boys.

She crawled out from under the green cap and rubbed the back of her head:

"Ou ou ou ou…. Huh?"

Eyne looked up… to discover the third Stalfos, standing in front of her. And the empty holes it had for eyes were… fixated on her…

"Oh no…"

She backed off a little, but noticed how her body stopped moving and wouldn't listen to her anymore, since the fear already had started to paralyze her…

"T-That's not how I planned it…"

Toki and Kaze both just finished off their respective Stalfos, when they suddenly heard a high-pitched scream:

"AHH!"

„Eyne?!", Toki called out in surprise.

„But…"

Kaze put his hand to his hair. Just now he realized that he lost his hat.

"Oh no!!"

"Quickly!

They ran over to the last Stallfos and found Eyne lying on ground near it, on Kaze's cap, barely conscious. She was holding her left arm with her right hand and a bright, shining liquid was emerging from between her fingers… she was wounded.

The Stallfos prepared another attack.

"HA!"

Kaze got in between, quickly pulled out his shield and blocked the strike.

"I'll show you, attacking a helpless, little fairy, you giant coward!!", he shouted enraged.

While Kaze unleashed a Spin Attack against the monster, Toki carefully picked up Eyne and Kaze's hat from the ground:

"Hey! Are you alright?"

She blinked a little bit:

"..Y…Yes… I think s—Ouch!!"

She twitched upon trying to raise her arm and shrieked for a moment.

Meanwhile, Kaze finished of the monster skeleton with a last, perfectly placed strike on the skull.

"HAAA!"

The Stallfos was history.

"Hah… hah… hah…"

Kaze and Toki. They stayed alarmed for a few more second. Given what happened the past few days, another load of monsters popping up out of nowhere wouldn't have been that unlikely to happen right now... yet, it stayed calm. The boys sighed.

Kaze went over to Toki and Eyne:

"What happened? Is she alright?"

Eyne was cowering in Kaze's hat, which was still in Toki's hands. She sobbed.

"She got cut on her right arm.", Toki stated with a slightly worried tone in his voice. "The wound doesn't seem to be that deep, but… Actually I'm not keen on finding out how this might end for her if it gets infected."

"Huh?" This statement seemed to surprise Kaze "I don't understand. She's a fairy! Can't she just heal the wound?"

„I-I can't…", Eyne replied „I told y-you…I'm not… a healing fairy. And even if I was, t-there's a huge difference between healing someone else's wounds and healing your o-own…"

Obviously, she was in pain.

"OK, we'll have to give you first aid then… Just a sec!"

"…Huh?"

Kaze quickly opened their bag and pulled out a small bottle, filled with white liquid… the rest of the milk, Toki bought the other day.

"Is it alright, if we use this?", Kaze quickly asked "I know, elixir would be better, but I'm all out and didn't have enough money to buy some on Windfall…"

"Sure, just go ahead!", Toki said "Just get it over here!"

"Alright… here!"

Kaze positioned the bottle in front of Eyne, tilted, to make it easier for her to drink out of it. The fairy gave the boys a puzzled, surprised look:

"Huh?... W-Why…?"

„Because it will make your wound heal faster!", Kaze stated.

"But… didn't he buy this from his last money? Also… you'll surely need some of it too later on! You've got nothing else…"

"Hey, you're tiny. There's no way you'll drink it all up!", Toki explained „There'll be left enough. Now, come on and drink already!"

Eyne didn't seem to agree:

"B-But that's not right! I'm the one who's supposed to help you, not the other way around! I'm just a fairy after all and a fairy's purpose is to aid—"

"Oh, cut it out already!", Kaze shock his head, slightly annoyed by her speech and hesitation: "You're our friend. So we'll not just watch you fly around wounded!"

"Exactly! And now just come on and have some milk! It's good, really!"

Eyne looked at each of the boys alternately in a very baffled way, before she slowly nodded and took a few sips of the milk.

"Ahh… so much better… Thank you."

She smiled content.

"Hm…"

Kaze took a look at her arm:

"But what are we gonna do about the open wound? Milk or not, it's gonna infect for sure like this… Believe me, I got my share of experiences with this kind of wounds yet…"

Kaze shivered a bit at the thought.

"Ha, whom are you telling this?", Toki laughed. "OK, just wait a sec…"

He reached into the bag and got out some band aid and a knife. Toki cut out a tiny piece and bandages the wound with it.

"OK, that should do it…"

"I hope so, we've got nothing else.", Kaze agreed. "Alright… can you move, Eyne?"

Still fairly surprised over what just happened, Eyne carefully got up and started moving her wings again… She slowly rose up from Toki's hand:

"Yes… I can fly… I guess… It's not hurting that badly anymore either…"  
There still was something unsure about the tone in her voice. It seemed, like she was still worrying about something.

Toki nodded:

"Well, I guess we can move on then, can't we?"

"Alright."

They proceeded through the corridors of the temple… when suddenly, the ground beneath their feet trembled.

Once again.

Again, even stronger and louder.

"Ah!"

Kaze almost tripped, but he managed to somehow keep his balance.

Toki turned around in shock:

"A-An earthquake?!"

"B-But I didn't do anything!", Eyne fearfully stated for some reason.

"I knew something was weird about this place!", Kaze realized "That was an eruption! The volcano is getting active again!"

"Oh no…"

Toki backed of a bit:

"Of course! Do you remember, what Saria said? Everything's going back to the way it was 1000 years ago! And since the volcano was much more active back then… Shot… It's gonna get _pretty _hot in here now!"

Kaze seemed to be displeased by this thought:

"Ah..? Even hotte—WATCH OUT!!"

Rocks were falling from the ceiling. The three of them could dodge them in the very last moment. And more was already on the way…

It literally started raining stones.

"RUN!", Kaze screamed, as Eyne escaped under his hat again.

This time, Kaze held his precious green cap with both hands while running, so it wouldn't fall of again.

Meanwhile, the temperature was rising immensely…

"H-Hot…", Kaze wheezed as he felt his lungs drying out.

"We'll make it, don't worry!!", Toki firmly believed.

And the two of them rushed down the corridor, as fast as they could, falling stones behind them.

_---Notes_

_Uhm… if you wondering why the heck I called this chapter "Hot Topic" of all stupid brand names in the world…_

_Don't ask me… -.- I don't even OWN Hot topic clothes…_

_The literal translation of the German chapter title would have been "Hot matter", which sounds… incredibly stupid. _

_Ah…anyway…_

_I don't really like this chapter. It's just arguing over heat and it getting hotter and all, bla, bla, bla, nobody cares, bla, bla, bla…_

_This chapter was longer in the German version, because the beginning part of the last chapter was originally in this one. I changed it, because it fit better the other way, leaving me with this joke of a chapter…_

_Eyne's a pretty useless fairy. That's why I give her some short moments of "She did something useful!" now and then, like finding Beedle a few chapters back. However, she's generally going to stay fairly useless. There's a reason for that._

_By the way, did you ever wonder, how MILK AND SOUP can cure all of Link's wounds and make him borderline invincible?! Zelda universe must have some pretty nasty cows and vegetables. _

_Or maybe, the soup is cucco-soup… But that still doesn't explain the milk…_

_Unlike… the cows are fed Cucco filet!... No. -.-;_

_I had some problems with translating this one and somehow I couldn't come up with the right grammar as naturally as usually… if there are too many grammar mistakes, please tell me. It would also be nice to tell, where exactly those mistakes are._

_I'm just a quarter year away from my final exams. I can't afford to letting my grammar get worse now._

_By the way, if you happen to be searching for a decent anime to watch, "Shakugan no Shana" might be the right choice. I watched the first half of the first season now and find it awesome. Also, by watching it, you will find out what kind of plot I love (because it's exactly this kind of plot) and might get a clue what I actually meant when I said "This fanfics story is getting pretty dark latter on".  
_


	19. Just a thin veil after all

Chapter19:

Just a thin veil after all. 

„AH!"

Kaze quickly jumped and dodged a falling boulder, which had almost hit and crushed him. For a split second, he kept his wide eyes at the spot where the enormous rock had fallen and gulped…

…That smashed stalagmite under it could have been him…

"Not good, not good, NOT GOOD!!", Eyne kept shouting from under his hat.

Kaze quickly ran on and kept holding his hat down:

"And it's still getting hotter and hotter!"

"We gotta stay strong!!", Toki stated "It shouldn't be far anymore!"

The kept rushing through the corridors of the dungeon, which almost collapsed under the rumble caused by the eruption.

Who came up with the demented idea to build a temple of such utmost importance in the inside of a _volcano, _of all places, anyway?!

Run, dodge, run, dodge, run, dodge…

"Huh!"

Toki suddenly stopped:

A huge pool of lava covered ground before them.

"The magma has already risen to high! We won't get through!"

"I… I can't go on much longer, Toki!"

Kaze was breathing heavily:

"I've never been to a place that hot before! I just can't take it!"

"Ah… Alright, then-"

Toki tried to long for his bag, seemingly wanting to get something out from it, but the ground beneath their feet started shaking once more, causing his hand to slip of its path. The lava was bubbling in a rather alarming way…

"Ugh! We gotta get out of here!"

Toki grabbed Kaze's hand and helped him with the running. They left the corridor as fast as possible.

"H…How do we get… to the sanctuary now?", Kaze asked.

"There's another way!", Toki stated. "But first, we have to avoid ending up roasted crispy down here!"

"Ah… Hn…Hn…"

Kaze tried to keep up with Toki's pace, but the heat was taking all out of him… He was rather surprised, that Toki didn't seem to be bothered by the temperature that much at all. Did that guy have Goron-skin, or why was he able to endure that horrible heat?

Or maybe Kaze just wasn't able to withstand the heat as good as Toki did for another reason… maybe he just lacked training after those few months doing mostly nothing?

…

Argh, what?… he was spacing out! No, not now!

Kaze quickly shook his head in order to get it clear again and tried to take some very deep breaths, as they passed by a crossroad…

"Huh?"

-There was something.

In surprise, Kaze stopped running.

For a split second, he thought he saw and heard…

A woman?

Toki pulled his hand:

"H…Hey! Why are you stopping?! We've got no time to lose!"

"There… There is somebody here!"

"Eh?"

"Somebody passed by us just now! Quick, this way!!"

"What…?"

Before Toki knew what he actually meant, Kaze had let go of his hand and was running back to the crossroad, taking another path…

"Hey! !"

Well aware that he had absolutely no other choice but to follow, Toki chased after Kaze.

-~-

"The magma-level is frighteningly high…"

"So what? Is Miss Princess afraid, that her pretty dress might get burned a little?"

Zelda shook her head and laughed a bit, when she saw the other woman's cheeky grin:

"As cynical as always, dear Midna!"

"Well, I do what I can!"

After that line, the grin slowly disappeared from her face:

"However… you are right. If this keeps going on like this, the inhabitants of the Eldin province might get some very serious problems…"

Zelda nodded:

"We will have to evacuate the Gorons and the villagers of Kakariko, if the situation doesn't change. And if the eruptions keep getting worse, they could even pose a threat to Zora's domain in the north… maybe even to the Castle Town… Oh goddesses… What shall I do now?..."

"We~ll…"

Midna bent down and took a look at the Lava beneath them:

"You don't just so happen to have a giant ice cube on you, do you?"

"Midna! This is not a situation to joke about!"

"Hee Hee Hee…"

Zelda looked at her with admonishing eyes, causing Midna to roll her own:

"Hey, I'm just trying to keep you from panicking. That's the last thing we could need now, isn't it? Don't worry, we'll find a way to stop this. Back then, I handled much worse stuff with Li-"

She stopped abruptly. Her relaxed expression disappeared as well…

"…"

Zelda and Midna stayed quiet. And the boiling lava only strengthened the horribly melancholically atmosphere…

Finally, Midna got up again:

"We should move on…"

Zelda just nodded and the two of them got ready to proceed deeper into the mountain…

"…Hm?"

After just a few steps, Princess Zelda suddenly turned around, which caused Midna to do the same in surprise:

"Zelda?"

"I… I thought I heard steps just now…"

"Steps? So somebody else is down here?"

The Twilight Princess closed her eyes and concentrated:

"…But I'm not feeling someone else's presence… And you?"

Zelda shook her head:  
„No… I don't… But still…"

She looked at the corridor behind her for some seconds, but Midna was right… she did not feel any life except her own and Midna's in this dungeon…

"… maybe it were just falling rocks.", she finally concluded.

Midna nodded: "Yeah, probably… Uh, just look at this place! It almost looks like it could collapse any moment from us _breathing_ in here! I can't believe what kind of damage those few eruptions just now already cause to the mines…. The faster we find and solve the problem, the better!"

After finished this statement, she took a close look around, proceeding a few more steps, before she seemingly noticed something:

"Hmm… Aha!"

She pointed down the corridor:

"Hey, this weird spot over there… can you see it too?"

"Hm?"

Zelda ran over to Midna and took a look at the place she was pointing at. She concentrated:

"Hm… Huh?"

She looked up in surprise:  
„Is that… leaking energy?... But from where? And why such a great amount?"

"I don't know, but that's certainly worth investigating, don't you think? Come on!"

Midna ran over to the anomaly they discovered. Zelda wanted to follow… but that was, when she once again heard a noise.

//No… I'm not just imagining that… Somebody is certainly here! We are not alone!//

-~-

//Who could that have been?//, Kaze asked himself //It's dangerous down here! No matter who this woman was, we have to get her out of here!//

He knew that they were in a hurry… but if somebody actually needed his help, this had priority! He kept on rushing down the tunnel, until he heard steps again…

…Now that he listened closer, the steps had a weird echo to them…

But those were steps! Clearly!

There was somebody…

That's when he a distant figure came into his view.

"HEY! YOU, STOP!!", he quickly shouted, in order to keep the person from moving away from him.

And as he came closer to the person…

Zelda stopped.

…A voice.

There was a voice just now! She clearly heard a child's voice!

There was a child down here!

It made no sense, but there was a child down her! Right… behind her?

Zelda quickly turned around, in order to see this chi—

…

What…

What was this?

What was… going on?...

How could this be?

She saw…

-~

Link gulped, as his eyes grew wide and he froze in place.

The person… The woman.

He was right before her now… just a few meters were between them.

She somehow seemed to be… blurred. Like she was a just… a mirage.

But she seemed much too real for that…

Yet, it had to be a mirage… otherwise… this could not be… this could impossibly be…

The woman – she wore a very regal-looking dress and had long, dark blonde hair and pale skin – stood there right before him.

But no matter how dark the shade of her hair was.

No matter how pale her skin was.

No matter how old she was…

Link knew this face. He would have recognized this face, anywhere and always.

"T-Tet… no… ZELDA?!"

~-

"Huh?"

Her name… the voice clearly said her name…

And this voice belonged to-

It was hard to tell, because the view she got of the figure before her was not completely clear, it seemed like something out of a fading dream…

But this voice belonged to the child.

A child was down here.

A child, down here in the mines, in the volanco…

And the child was…

The child looked just like…

Zelda shook her head:

//I'm … hallucinating?... No. I'm not… But…//

"No… You… You can't possibly be—"

Zelda wanted to speak on, but when she stopped shaking her head and looked before her…

The child was gone.

Just as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Princess Zelda!"

Midna's voice.

Zelda turned around, just in time for Midna to reach her and shake her shoulders without much respect:

"What's gotten into you?! Don't you know, that we've got no time to just split up like this?!"

"I… I saw…"

-~-

"Hey! What's the big idea?!"

Toki finally caught up with Kaze:

"You know we can't afford to lose anymore time! The sanctuary is in the other direc-"

"She's gone…", Kaze whispered absent-minded.

"Huh? Who are talking about?"

"Zelda…"

Finally, he came back to his senses:

"Zelda! Toki, I just saw Princess Zelda, but now she's gone!"

"You mean your pirate-friend is down here?!", Toki asked in surprise.

Kaze shook his head:

"I first thought it was Tetra, but she was too old… too tall, too pale, too… too…calm…"

He tried to recall the image of this young, noble woman he just saw…

"It couldn't have been her… And yet it was Princess Zelda! It was her, yet it was not her at all…I don't know how and why, but I just feel it!"

"Hmm… you're… sure you aren't just seeing things?", Toki considered "I mean, the heat has already taken quite a toll on you…"

"But… But she was…"

Kaze stopped and put his hand to his forehead…

Yeah… it was still so very, very terribly hot...

"Yeah… I probably was just imagining it…"

"Don't worry!"

Toki winked at him:

"I got something for you, that will make you feel better, trust me!"

"Huh?"

"Time for my secret weapon number 2!"

Assuming that "Number 1" must have been the mask he used the day before yesterday, Kaze watched how Toki pulled out a set of red clothes from his bag.

"Dear buddy, I hereby present you:

The red tunic!"

"It's… kinda large…", was the first thing Kaze noted when he saw it:

"And how are _more_ clothes supposed to help? I'm already feeling embarrassingly tempted to take of the ones I already got on me, because of the temperature…"

"But those are special!", Toki stated "I got them from the Gorons, back then when I was an adult. As long as you're wearing those, you don't get hot, no matter what!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!... But, as you already said, they are actually twice our current size and it could be difficult to move in them for us… that's why I actually wanted to avoid using them. But, seriously, I'd rather have you continuously trip over your clothes than dry out on me! Here!"

He passed Kaze the red clothes.

"Hey… but what about you? Aren't you feeling hot at all?", Kaze asked.

Toki shrugged:

"I can take it a few more minutes… and if it gets worse, I do have…. A backup-plan…"

Why did this expression in Toki's face tell Kaze, that "A backup-plan" was actually synonymous with "another painful transformation-mask"?

He felt pretty bad for accepting this tunic from Toki, but he had no other choice, when he was already starting to hallucinate? He had to stay competent in battle…

…

Hallucinate…

Really?

As Kaze changed into the large tunic, carefully trying to stuff all the unnecessary cloth under his belt, he once again thought about what he just had seen…

Could this really have been Zelda?

This noble, beautiful woman with the dark blonde hair?

-~-

"Did you lose some rupees, or why did you suddenly stop?"

Midna seemed a little irate about Zelda slowing them down.

Zelda however looked rather… frightened.

Her eyes were wide open and her already very pale skin suddenly lost yet another 3 shades of color.

"Hm…? Zelda?"

Midna started to wave her hands in front of the other Princess' face:

"Hello? You're there?"

"…Link…"

"What?"

Zelda pulled herself together and looked Midna in the eyes:

"Just now… a child appeared before me! A little boy! He… He resembled Link a lot! He was even wearing the hero's clothes!"

"Uhm… there's nobody there, Zelda. We checked, remember?"

"Yet I saw him.", Zelda insisted.

"Oh boy…"  
Midna shook her head in disbelieve:

"Listen, if someone else was here, I would have noticed, but there is nobody here! It might have been a vision or daydream or something like that! Or, probably the heat down here really already started to mess around with your head."

"But, what if this… "apparition" was a sign of some kind?"

A strange mix of melancholy and hope suddenly dominated her facial expression.

Midna sighed:

"Zelda… Trust me, I'd _love _to believe that we could get Link back as easily as this, but that's not how this unfair, unfair life plays, huh?

… He's not here. Trust me…"

She slowly turned around, only letting her eyes of Zelda in the very last second:

"What, however, is actually here are those weird energy-spots we discovered before… guess what I figured out about them."

"…"

Zelda said nothing, sunken in her thoughts.

"Rips", Midna continued: "They are rips in the fabric of time and space. Just like the one I passed through to come here. I don't know where they connect to and actually am not keen on going through and finding out, since those seem different from the one, I used. I'm not absolutely sure, but they might kill us, if we tried to go through, so we'd better not try it out. However, there's a fairly large amount of energy leaking through them. This must be why the mountain is acting like this."

"…"

Zelda stayed silent.

„So we'd better take care of those things, don't you think?"

"…"

"Hmpf!!"

Angrily, Midna turned around again:

"ZELDA!"

"Huh!"

Zelda raised her head when she heard the other woman calling her name. Midna gave her a furious glare:

"Get a hold of yourself, for your gods' sake! Link is _not_ gonna just pop up from behind the next corner and you know it! Look, if you really want to help him, we should rather investigate on those anomalies, than chase after some mirage inside a volcano, alright?! So stop starring at the ground and DO SOMETHING!"

In shock, Zelda stepped back a bit…

But… Midna was right. No matter how long she would think about what she just saw… it would not help them in any way.

What she saw was an image. Not more.

And an image… was not going to bring Link back…

"Yes… Please, excuse me… There are really much more urgent things to worry about."

The women continued their way through the mines…

-~-

Step for Step.

They proceeded.

From time to time, the ground would suddenly start to shake again and they still had to dodge a few falling boulders now and then, but they were able to progress…

Kaze took a deep breath. It felt refreshing and vitalizing.

Just as Toki had claimed, the red tunic completely protected his body from the heat and allowed him to finally breath normally again.

… Toki however.

Kaze threw him a worried look. Now, the heat had started to take it's toll on _him._ And since he gave away his red tunic to Kaze, he had no way of protecting himself from it.

Kaze knew, he would have to use the "Backup-Plan", he spoke of before rather soon, if they didn't reach the sanctuary within the next few minutes.

But, aside from that, there was also another thing that worried the boy…

…That mirage…

No. She hadn't been just a…

"I… I didn't just imagine her."

"Huh?"

Toki turned around and looked over to Kaze, who was now staring at the ground:

"I saw Zelda. I'm absolutely positive about that…"

"But there was nobody there.", Toki stated and Eyne nodded:

"Absolutely and completely nobody!"

"…"

Kaze turned his face away. He knew that they were right. He knew that this was ridiculous. It was already ridiculous enough that he identified this… this stranger als "Zelda".

She looked nothing like Tetra! She had been around 20 years old; Tetra was 13. Her hair was dark blond; Tetra's was golden blond. She was pale, Tetra was tanned. She had a calm look to her eyes, Tetra had, most definitely, not—

Wait-

What did Linebeck say again in the bar…?

-_But I'm not sure if it was really her… She seemed to be scared of something and her eyes had something… calm and innocent to them. Not like that cheeky, little friend of yours at all…-_

Calm and innocent…

Could it be—

No. Even if this was true, there were too many things about this woman that just didn't check out with Tetra. Not at all!

Yet…

…Wait…

"Your… Your Princess Zelda."

"Huh?"

Toki reacted by tilting his head to the side:

"What's with her?"

"What did she look like?", Kaze finally asked. "I mean, when you saw her as an adult?"

"Uhm… well…"

Toki had to think a few moments:

"She was… really beautiful. She had a really noble aura to her… long, golden blond hair… The dress she wore, it was so full of details, I could not recall them all, no matter how hard I tried. And her eyes were deep… calm and full of kindness…"

Kaze could imagine what he meant…

And when he did, he saw an adult Tetra before him… suddenly, he could actually picture what Tetra would probably look like as a grown woman…

And, strangely, he suddenly noticed that this image in his mind actually _did_ resemble the woman he just saw a lot… or was he just being influenced by it?

Regardless; one thing still didn't check out.

The woman he saw had dark blond hair. Not golden blond like Tetra, or the Princess Zelda Toki described.

But everything else… Everything else suddenly seemed to fit seamlessly…

"I saw Zelda…", he repeated "I don't know how, I don't know why. But I just know it. That wasn't just… the heat…"

…

"…The sanctuary should be just behind that door over there.", Toki finally changed the topic after a few second of silence. "We're almost there… are you coming?"

Kaze quietly nodded and followed, as Toki took out the last key they collected and opened the door to the last room…

Just when they had entered it, the door crashed down behind them and was sealed.

Toki sighed:

"The usual?"

A giant golem made of burning stone rose from the ground before them.

Kaze nodded unimpressed:

"The usual."

The monster was preparing to attack.

Kaze took off his cap and let Eyne out:

"It's not save in there right now, you'd rather hide somewhere else instead!"

The fairy nodded:

"Understood."

She flew up to the ceiling of the room and hid behind a ledge, while Kaze put his hat on again:

"Ice-arrows?"

"Ha, did you read my thoughts, or what?", Toki answered, while he was already getting his bow ready.

"HA! ICE!"

He shot the first arrow, which was surrounded by an aura of icy wind. It hit the giants right arm, which froze right away.

"YES!"

But they were celebrating too soon.

The ice melted away in a matter of seconds and the angered monster's flames burst higher.

Right afterwards, he started hitting around its enormous arms, trying to hit the boys, who quickly dodged. Yet, the mere strikes of the fiend made the air itself burn, sending heat-waves through the whole room.

"Argh! I felt that, even through those clothes!!", Kaze stated. "We gotta keep trying, Toki!... Toki?"

Kaze turned around:

The reason for Toki not answering was, that he was sitting on his knees, breathing heavily and looking extremely exhausted.

He couldn't bear the temperature any longer…

"Hey!" Kaze ran over to him "Are you alright?"

"Uhm… Well…"

He looked like he was in pain…

"Maybe, you should…"

"N-No…"

Toki got up and drew his sword:

"I can still… go on! I don't need it yet…"

Apparently, he wanted to avoid using whatever he had in stock (Kaze still assumed it to be another mask) at any cost.

He got out his bow and arrows again.

"You too!", he told Kaze.

"Alright!"

The two of them prepared the arrows and cast the ice on them.

Then, they started to fire arrow after arrow at the burning giant. But many of those arrows already burned to ashes in mid-air, before they came even close to hitting their goal. Also, the monster was starting to wildly hit around its arms again. Kaze had to pull Toki out of the way of one of those strikes in the very last second… He had gotten to slow to make it alone in time.

"Uh… There has to be a more effective way!!", Kaze stated firmly.

Toki nodded weakly:

"Maybe… some wind could…"

Wind?... Of course!

First cooling this beast down with some wind and THEN shooting the arrows at it should do the trick!

But… how? Even if it was possible to use the Wind's requiem in here (which was impossible anyway), he didn't have his baton anymore…

"The idea is good, but how are you planning to do this?", Kaze finally asked.

Toki said nothing, but longed for the Ocarina on his belt with his trembling hand…

Kaze realized what he was wanting to do:

"You want to use that song? The one that shipwrecked us?"

Toki winked at him:

"Well, it did work last time, didn't it…?"

There was no use arguing with this statement.

"Alright… But first…"

Kaze quickly got out of the large, red tunic (he still wore his green one under it) and tossed it over to Toki:

"Your turn!"

"Huh!"

Toki caught it:

"B-But what about y-"

Now, Kaze was the one to wink at Toki:

"I'll try distract it from you…", he pulled out his Deku-Leaf "Get into that tunic and play the song! Hurry!"

"Ah… OK!"

Kaze ran over to the giant, right to its feet:

"HEY!! YOU!!"

The beast looked down at the boy.

Link grinned:

"Need some air?"

He swung the magically leaf like a fan, causing a short blast of wind to his the giant right in the face. It only cooled him down for a few moments, but this was certainly enough to get the beats attention. Also, Deku Leaf's wind cooled down the air around Link a tiny little bit as well, which was quite a relief for him, now that he didn't don the red tunic any longer.

While monster was still trying to hit him, the young hero kept attacking in this very same way. It was very exhausting, but it bought the other Link enough time to prepare himself…

Finally, Toki, dressed in the red tunic, put the Ocarina to his lips…

But he barely managed to produce a sound.

"Argh!... I can't breathe correctly… The air is too dry…", he said: "I can't play the Ocarina like that!"

Kaze gulped. That was bad news.

"Keep on trying!!", he suggested.

Toki put the Ocarina to his lips again, but the sounds only came out very silently and unpleasant sounding, if at all.

That was, when a blue flash suddenly lit up the areal…

"Huh? What was this?", Kaze asked in surprise.

This very moment, a strong gust out of nowhere suddenly blew across the whole room and cooled down the beast – as well as the air in the room itself – significantly.

The boys laughed in joy.

"Finally!"

"Let's show this guy!!"

They once again drew their bows and enchanted their arrows with ice, shooting as many of them at the monster, as they could.

The giant tried to get rid of the arrows, until it finally stoped moving. It had completely frozen.

One last arrow hit it…

And it burst into a million stone-shards.

"YEAY!"

Kaze jumped up in glee and exclaimed:

"WE WON!!"

"Great… but what now?"

Toki went over to the remains of the fiend… And found a big, red jewel among them.

But there were no doors or other places, where it could have been placed.

"Ah… there's just us and the exit in here… How do we proceed?"

The room trembled.

"Argh! We're running out of time!"

"We need help! Help from somebody, who knows a lot about the sages!", Toki stated.

"And whom would you suggest?"

"Well…"

Toki winked.

He put his Ocarina to his lips once again and started playing the song from the forest temple.

"Uhm, how's that gonna help?", Kaze asked confused.

Toki didn't answer this question, instead he looked up into the air and said:

"We're kinda stuck here… could you help us out, Saria?"

"Of course!"

Kaze jumped a little in surprise, when he heard the voice of the sage from the forest temple echo through the room.

"You can't find the door, because there is no door! You already reached the sanctuary!"

"Shouldn't there be some kind of altar in here then?", Toki asked confused.

"There's a mechanism to open it. It will emerge from the ground, once the jewel you found is inserted in the right spot."

"What spot? I didn't find anything that looked, like it could be inserted there!"

"I did!!", Eyne's voice suddenly echoed down to them.

She was flying a few meters above them, pointing at a barely noticeable, high-up spot in the wall… It had just the right shape for the jewel.

"Thanks, Eyne!", Kaze shouted up.

Toki smiled:

"Saria, you're the best!"

"That's all I can do to help you for now. But if you face this kind of problems again, just remember the song!"

He nodded:

"I will!"

After that, her voice disappeared.

"Alright…"

Kaze took the red jewel and passed it on to Eyne, who flew up with it and placed it in the wall. It started glowing right after being inserted.

A loud rumble started. First the boys thought, it might be another quake, but they then realized, that an altar had started to rise from the ground in the middle of the room.

The boys smiled at each other.

"Ready to break the seal?", Toki asked and Kaze nodded.

They just wanted to approach the altar, when suddenly the earth started shaking again…

"WOAH!", the boys tripped as they realized, that _this_ was indeed another quake.

And the ground shock much stronger, much more violently than all the times before now.

"OH NO!", Toki exclaimed, realizing what this meant.

Kaze wasn't stupid either:

"It's happening! That's the actual eruption! The mountain's gonna blow up!

"That means…WE'RE DONE FOR!!", Eyne cried in panic.

-~-

"We have to stop this NOW!!", Princess Zelda exclaimed in fear, as she tried to no fall to the ground.

She and Midna were just a few meter's from the volcano's core, a giant pool of magma, which looked like a pot of milk which was about to boil over, knowing that they would be dead right once the eruption took off.

"We have to use magic, there is no other way!", Midna stated "But I have no idea what kind of side-effects this could cause with all those anomalies around here!"

"But if we do nothing, everybody around will die!"

"That's true!", Midna turned towards Zelda: "Ready?"

Zelda nodded.

"Alright! Three… Two… One…"

„AHHHHHHH!!!"

The two Princess simultaneously raised their hands and combined their forces, as a wave of golden light and yellow and red twilight swept across the area.

As the magical wave touched the molten stone, the bubbling magma, which was just about to explode out of the mountain…

Stopped.

It level sunk again, back to where it was before the first, small eruptions...

"Uhh…"

Midna sunk into her knees:

"That was energy-draining… Ah, that's not what I imagined my nice, little visit in the light world to be like…"

"I pray that the mountain will stay calm now… and I also wonder, why it became as active as this in the first place…", Zelda stated.

"I've got a theory." Midna stood up again: "Remember what I said before? How I don't know where the rips in time and space this anomalies caused lead to? Well, what if they created a connection between some point in the past, where this mountain was more active? I guess, the exchange in energies caused the mountain to suddenly revert back to it's state from back then, which first resulted in this sudden rising of the magma-level and almost led in rather spectacular, mountain shattering kaboom."

"Oh, by the goddesses…", Zelda seemed shocked "If this kind of things are already happening, the order of the world must already be greatly disturbed!... And Link is not with us to help restoring it… We are in great trouble…"

"Oh yeah, because of that…", Midna looked at Zelda: "Didn't you say before, that you saw a kid who looked a lot like him?"

Zelda nodded.

"Hmm…" Midna took a moment to think: "That was, when we were very close to the spot were I examined the anomalies… Maybe the leaking energy caused the vision and what you saw was one of Link's ancestors!", she guessed "One of the light spirits mentioned, that he was decended from a legendary hero."

"That would be the hero of time, who started his legacy at very young age, according to the legends-"

Zelda looked up:

"-You're right! This could actually be what happened!"

The Princess of Hyrule closed her eyes and concluded:

"So, the anomalies in the fabric of time and space seemingly caused me to have a vision from this place from approximately 1000 years ago, meaning that what I saw the legendary hero of time. Yes, this could be possible…"

"Only leaves the question, what that "Hero of Time" was doing inside the mountain, if it really was that much more active back then." Midna stated "But, I guess, if he was just as hard-headed as his descendant, that "little" bit of Magma wouldn't have stopped him, regardless of age, strength, common sense and logic."

Zelda said nothing.

Yes, this explanation Midna came up with sounded good… yet, for some reason, it didn't satisfy her. She felt like they missed out something crucial… But what?

Did it have something to do with Link's state?

At least their spell didn't seem to have caused any significant side-effects…

-~-

"…It stopped."

Relieved, Kaze sighed, while Toki noted:

"Hey, the temperature is going down again! Looks like everything was alright again, heheh!...Huh?"

The boys turned around, when they noticed a shine from the corners of their eyes…

Through the corridor, that led them into this room, a wave of golden and red light was rushing towards them.

"W-What's that?!", Kaze exclaimed.

"A spell!", Eyne stated "And a rather powerful one at it--- DUCK!"

That's just what the boys did, when the wave of light rushed over them…

"AHH…. Huh?"

As the light touched them, Kaze felt a weird sensation…

It… didn't feel bad at all. It was...

Kind of warm. Pleasant and calm.

A certain sense of nostalgia captured the boy for some reason…

"Ah… I think I get it!", he says „Somebody must have calmed down the mountain, using this spell! That's what caused the eruption to end… Huh?... Toki?"

Kaze heard something falling to the floor…

When he opened his eyes again, the other boy was lying to his feet- collapsed.

"Uhuhhh…"

"Toki!"

Kaze bent down to him:  
„Hey! Are you alright?! Come on! Wake up!! Com'on!!"

But the other Link didn't answer.

He had fainted.

-~-

…

_Maybe…_

_Maybe there was something beyond this memory…_

_Something, that I forgot…_

…_but what?_

…_.Zelda?_

_Would you… please tell me?..._

…

_---Note_

_Big chapter, BIG CHAPTER! _

_But I like this one. I seriously do._

_Well, except for some parts._

_OK, I sooo~ gotta go to bed now, so I will keep this short! _

_First: Hurray for the Red Tunic!_

_Second: Hurray for Midna!_

_Thrid: Hurray for me failing to use my opportunity to let OoT Link use the Goron-Mask!_

_Fourth: Hurray for TP Zelda and TWWLink seeing each other!_

_Fifth: Hurray for Boss Battles!_

_Sixth: Hurray for the Deus ex Machina!_

_Seventh: Hurray for said Deus ex Machina having completely random effects on OoT Link!_

_Eigth: Hurray for the next chapter, which is one of my favorites in the story for pretty cool reasons, but also pretty long…_

_So don't await it too soon._

_SOOO~_

_Me = going to bed now._

_Good night, everybody! XD_


	20. Poenix' refuge

Chapter 19:

Phoenix' Refuge

_Falling…_

_Am I… falling?_

_I feel, like I was…__ waking up from a long dream…_

_Like coming home from a long journey…_

_Returning back to myself…_

_I…_

_I can hear your voice…_

_Zelda…_

_-~-_

Link…

"Link!"

Her voice…

Someone was shaking his shoulder.

Suddenly, someone spoke:

"Princess, please return to you room! The nurses will take care of him!"

"No! I won't go!"

Someone gently touched his face:

"Link! Oh please, Link, wake up!"

"Uhh…"

He blinked for a second…

A blurred picture… His view was unclear.

He blinked again.

There was a girl, bent over him…

He finally actually opened his eyes.

And Princess Zelda smiled in relief:

"Thank be the goddesses…"

"Z-Zelda…?"

Link felt a horrible headache, when the bright daylight shone into his eyes… As he tried to sit up, Zelda shrieked in fear:  
"No! Don't get up yet! You might be wounded!"

"No, no… I'm alright, don't worry."

He turned his head towards her.

And looked into her eyes.

Zelda…

It really was her.

Princess Zelda of Hyrule.

Hyrule…

"What… what happened…?", Link asked tired and confused by the situation.

Zelda took his hand and explained:

"The guards found you floating unconscious in the river! I was so frightened…"

"The… the River…"

How in the goddesses name did he end up in the river? He tried to recall what he did last…

So… he was riding on Epona and—

"Epona!!"

Link's head shot up:

"Epona! What happened to-"

"Don't worry."

Zelda calmed him down with a calm gesture:

"The daughter of the Lon Lon farm's owner found her in the open fields. She brought her here, for you to pick her up. She's in the royal stables."

"Ah… Thank goodness…"

Link sighed relieved, as Zelda approached him in curiosity.

"Say, Link… How did you end up in the river?", she asked.

Link just shook his head:

"No idea…"

"And… did your search for this important friend go well?"

"…"

Link turned his head to the floor:

"Not…really…"

His voiced sounded depressed and disappointed. Zelda actually felt sorry for bringing up the topic. She took his hands:

"Oh… Link…"

"I could have guessed that, though…", Link stated: "The world is a very wide place… I don't know how I ever thought that finding one single tiny, fairy would be that easy… I searched all the forests in Hyrule and around, and also in-… But there was nobody who knew anything about her. Not even the fairies I met. They didn't even know her name…"

„You'll see her again one day!", Zelda quickly stated "Just don't give up!"

Just don't give up…

How ironic… that Zelda had to tell HIM this, of all people. He, who was supposed to be courage incarnated…

He took a glance at his left hand. The holy symbol shone like a diamond in the sun.

"Zelda… I…"

But he didn't know, what he should say and silence befell the room for a few seconds.

Zelda, however, smiled:

"You shouldn't worry that much. She is fine, I'm sure. Also… you are a great friend, Link. Believe me. So, why shouldn't she want to ever see you again?"

Could Zelda read his thoughts?

"But, you have to understand, due to what she helped you to accomplish, I am sure she herself has now become something akin to a heroine among the fairies as well now! She surely is very busy right now! You should consider that as well!"

Link looked at Zelda's smiling face. She was radiant like the rising morning sun, making it hard for him to _not_ get cheered up a little, merely by looking at her.

"You'll see her again!", Zelda stated „I know it.

"Heh heh…"

Finally, Link smiled back at her:

"Thank you… Princess Zelda."

"You are very welcome!"

Zelda winked at him quickly. Then, she jumped up from her chair:

"I will go to tell father, that you woke up! You just rest a little longer. Tomorrow morning, we'll see about everything else!  
Link nodded:

"Alright."

"Hee Hee…"

With a last, silent giggle, Zelda ran out the door. Before closing it, she peeked into the room again for a short moment and whispered:

"Good night, Link…"

-~-

„Go~od morning, LINK!"

„Huh?"

Link opened his eyes, as soon as the cheerful voice reached his ears.

Zelda was standing in front of his bed, smiling like the sun through the window behind her was.

The morning sun…

It was morning.

"Heheheh… so~…How are you today?"

Zelda's calm and yet joyful smile alone caused Link to start smiling himself:

"Much better. Thank's for asking!"

"And you are really alright now?", she asked "Absolutely no problems whatsoever?"

He shook his head:

"Nope! 100% fine!"

„Hee Hee… well…"

The Princess leaned towards him and giggled… before she suddenly grabed his hand:

"Let's go then!!"

"What?—WHOOO!"

Before Link even realized what was happened, Zelda had already pulled him out oft he Bett and, subsequently the room. They were running down the castle's corridor now.

"W-Wait!! Where are we going?!"

„Hee Hee! Breakfast, stupid!", Zelda laughed „Come on!"

Link was more than just merely baffled. He had never seen Zelda acting that… energetic before. Then again, he had only met her twice before yet. (Not counting what happened in the future age)

Still, he couldn't believe how _fast_ this girl could run, with this dress of hers!

Holding Link's hand tightly, she rushed down the corridors, as Impa's voice suddenly echoed through the room:

"Princess! Didn't your father ask you, not to run in the castle?!"

"Catch me and prove it to him then!!", Zelda exclaimed laughing

"Ungh!"

Impa backed off, as the Princess and the little green kid rushed past her… She put her palm to her forehead:

"Ahh… That girl is just impossible sometimes!"

Approximately a hundred turns later (wow… what a large castle…), Zelda stopped all of the sudden, causing Link to almost trip. She swung open the door before her, revealing a large hall with a fittingly large table behind it.

The King and Queen of Hyrule were sitting there, starring at their incoming daughter in surprise.

"I wish you a wonderful good morning, mother and father! What is for breakfast today?"

„Zelda!"

„Oh, what did you do to your dress again, dear…? ", the Queen sighed rather disappointed, looking at her daughter's wrinkled skirt.

The king shook his head:

"Zelda, how many times did we tell you not to run in the castle?"

"Quite a few!", she stated, without stopping to smile: "But I had to hurry! Link is very hungry, you see!"

"Uhm, actually, I am not that—"

Link abruptly stopped, after he took a look at the table:

"WOW!"

Never before in his whole life had his seen this much food. This much… delicious looking… food…

"OH YEAY! I am FAMISHED!", he exclaimed in glee.

The king laughed:

"Just take as much as you can eat, boy!"

"Seriously?!"

The Queen nodded:

"Of course! It's the least we can do for you, after helping us to seize this vile traitor!"

"Oh boy!!"

Link quickly sat down at the table and put as much as he could on his plate. He ate rather fast and hasty. So~ incredibly tasty…

If this was supposed to be "just" the breakfast, what did the lunches and dinners look like here? Or, while we're at it, the banquets?

While Link was still eating, Zelda sat down next to him

"Well… do you like the breakfast?", she asked.

"Hm Hm!", He nodded, his mouth still full. He quickly swallowed:

"It's delicious!!"

He grinned in bliss.

Zelda giggled:

"That is great! I'm glad…"

„Zelda."

„Huh?"

She quickly turned to the king:

"Yes, father?"

"I know how relieved you are that the young man is safe and sound, but please, restrain yourself a little and watch out for your manners."

"Oh!"

As Zelda heard this, she sat up properly, brushed her skirt with her hands, until the worst wrinkles were gone and put her elbows down from the table:

"Excuse me."

In surprise, Link watched Zelda adjusting her position.

Sitting up straight… Elbows down from the table… but this was just a private breakfast! Nobody was watching…

Also, Link hadn't been attention to how he was sitting and to were his elbows were at all. But they scolded Zelda for it…

Did she have to do it like this at every single meal?

"Psst! Link?"

„Hm?"

Link turned his head towards her, as Zelda started to whisper in his ear:

"Once we are done eating… would you come and play with me a little bit?"

Link swallowed what he had in his mouth and nodded with a smile:

"I'd love to!"  
"Really?!"

Zelda almost jumped out of glee.

"Of course!"

"Yeay!"

"Zelda! Behave yourself!", the queen suddenly scolded

"Oh! I am sorry…"

The princess quickly sat up properly again, but it was obvious that she actually had enough of the strict etiquette and all those rules. Link heard her sighing next to him.

So that's what being royalty was really like… Link actually felt sorry for Zelda.

-~-

"Wow!!"

Link was looking around in amazement.

The room Zelda led him too was downright gigantic and filled with all the toys, a child could ever wish having.

"Is this all yours?!", he finally asked Zelda.

She laughed:

"Yeah… quite a lot, isn't it?"

"_Quite a lot_?! You could keep all the Kokiri in the forests entertained with this stuff for three years straight!", Link stated in awe. And he really meant it.

"Well… probably, but it's a bit lonely to always play alone with that much stuff…"

"Alone?", Link asked with compassion "You are always playing alone?"

"Or with Impa. But she's too serious about everything. Don't tell her, but it's not really much fun playing with her…"

"That's a pity, with all this awesome stuff.", Link stated.

"Well, you are here now, aren't you?", Zelda replied joyfully. She turned at him: "So~, what shall we try first?"

"Uhmm…"

Link didn't know, where to go first… there were so many games you could play in here…

"Hee Hee. Too many choices?"

Now, Link was sure: Zelda _could _read thoughts!

"Ah… Come on!"

"H-Hey!"

Zelda took his hand and ran towards an almost life-sized replica of a ship, standing on a large, blue carpet with a seawave-patern. She then let go of Links hand and entered the ship by herself.

Half a minute later, she appeared on deck of it:

In the short time of 30 seconds, she had changed out of her dress, into a purple shirt, blue leather jacket and a pair of grey pants. had quickly braided her hair into a bun and had a wooden toy saber on her, which she now promptly drew and pointed at Link:

"ARRRRRHH! So ya little landlubber want to challenge captain' Zelda, mistress of the fearsome pirates?! If you want my gold, come up here and fight like a man, ARRRHH!!"

"Hahaha! Well, OK!"

Link helped himself to a toy sword on the ground and jumped onto the ship-replica. He and Zelda started dueling with their fake weapons:

"Return the gold you stole from the Zora, you terrible, terrible pirates!!", he laughed amused.

"Only over ma cold, dead body, yaaarrr!", Zelda laughed back: "Because ya shall never defeat me, the strongest pirate to ever sail the seven seas! HA!"

Suddenly, she jumped right over Link, which caught him completely off-guard. Zelda could jump THAT high?! When did she learn this? Also… he noticed that he actually wasn't holding back as much as he should have been… Zelda was a lot stronger than he expected. Has she been training swordplay?...

"Well, are ya already afraid?", she asked checkly from behind.

Link quickly turned around:

"Afraid? No, not really! Ha Ha!"

Once again, the toy saber and the toy sword met each other. The two of them smiled, as the faux-battle continued. Finally, Link manage to disarm the Princess with an aimed strike. Zelda stumbled back and laughed loudly:

"Ha Ha Ha Ha… Ah, I mean--- Oh no! Oh no, the little green landlubber defeated me! Disgrace and shame! Oh, Oh!!... Hee hee hee…"

Zelda got up again and jumped down from the ship. In surprise, Link followed after her. She entered a small tower, reaching to the ceiling of the room (which was pretty high up).

Link waited before it in curiosity…

And got a little shock when suddenly, Zelda came back out, wearing a HUGE, silver armor.

"Woah!"

Given, it was probably just made out of painted wood (otherwise, she'd never have been able to move in it), but it looked _pretty_ realistic.

Zelda pointed yet another toy-sword (a rather big one) at Link:

"So you are the intruder, who has been reported to our troops? May you be crushed under the might of my sword! HA HA!

The helmet distorted her voice a little, yet it was still quite funny to hear Zelda sweet and loveable voice come out of this clunky armor. Link laughed:

"Well, you can try, if you want! Hahahaha!"

Link ran right towards her and they started dueling with their toy swords again. Link paid a bit more attention to Zelda's move this time…

Yeah, she's surely been training. Of course, it was not like she could actually beat him, but she had a little bit of skill there…

Sunken in his thoughts like that, Link forgot to pay attention to what he was slashing at and accidently hit a string at the back of the armor. He cut it and the armor fell apart.

Zelda stood before him, armor less and surprised.

"Oops!", he exclaimed "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break the armor, I…"

But Zelda just giggled. A huge grin appeared on her face:

"So, so… You beat me, fine warrior! But can I not let you proceed, for you are far, faaa~r to powerful to roam our lands! Thus I shall inform… HER!!"

Link tilted his head in confusion:

"…Her? Huh!"

"Heheheheheh…"  
Zelda ran away, into a small, wooden house. Link followed her… Just as he arrived, Zelda already sat on the roof-

Wearing a form-fitting blue suit and red contacts. She had also concealed the lower portion of her face with a white scarf…

"Wait… This looks kinda like…"

"Heheh…"

Zelda laughed silently:

"Say, stranger… you think you can take on the greatest Sheikah warrior of them all in a fair and noble battle?"

Link took on a battle stance again:

"HA! Well, of course! I'm a hero after all!"

"So be it!"

She jumped down from the roof and started to battle Link with rather professional kicks and hits. Even if they were just playing around, Link was completely in his element.

And he now finally understood why the Zelda of the future, which never happened, had chosen to become a Sheikah.

Zelda was a warrior. This wasn't just a disguise or mask she had put on.

The freedom-loving pirate, the strong knight and the noble Sheikah… This was all her. She wasn't just a little, scared girl with no power on her own, who had to rely on others. No matter how sweet and innocent she seemed on the surface, how gentle and generous… this other, tomboyish side was a part of her as well. Princess Zelda was a warrior. A warrior at heart.

And she had probably always been. Probably, she had never even liked her life in the castle.

Maybe, she was even a little bit jealous of Link… Maybe he was living just the kind of life in freedom, which she desired?

As Link came up with this thought, he felt a little bit unsettled…

"Heheheheh… oh, I mean- Well fought, young warrior! Seems like I got no other choice, but to inform the queen!"

Zelda "Sheik" ran away, behind a black curtain in the edge of the room. As Link followed her, she pushed the certain beside. And stepped forward, clothed in black robes, which concealed her whole body:

"I am the queen of this lands… I heard rumors of you. Is it true that it was you, young warrior, who defeated every last one of the strongest people of my realm?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's me!", Link laughed provoking "But does that mean, you want to challenge me, your majesty? I mean, I am a mighty, mighty warrior! How could a queen with no armies possibly pose a threat to me?"

"Heheheh…"

Zelda threw the robes away. She was wearing her dress again, but not the wimple, and had armed herself with a rapier-like toy sword.

"A woman can be strong on her own as well!"

"Well, show me then!"

Link and Zelda started fencing. Yes, she truely had talent, Link had to give her that. And it was incredibly much fun.

Finally, Zelda lost the rapier and was disarmed once again. She started to laugh in joy and from the bottom of her heart:

"HAHAHA! Oh yes, you are truly a marvelous hero, worthy of the title and the blessings of the queen!"

"Yeah, I get that quite often!", Link stated playfully and sounding arrogant on purpose.

"And the strong, noble hero gets from the princess…"

Zelda got up again and approached Link a little… She was grinning slightly mischievous. Link didn't know what to think of this…

Suddenly, she kissed him on the cheek.

"Huh?!"

"Heheheh!"

Link's face turned red as a tomato…

"Hey! Don't just stare at me! You have to call me something along the lines of "fair maiden" now!", Zelda stated "Or am I not pretty enough for this? Huh?"

"N-No! You are pretty, Zelda, really!", he quickly replied "B-But… I've never been… This was the first time somebody… I mean, I know a lot of girls, but none of them has ever… I…"  
"Oh!"

Zelda's eyes widened in surprise as she realized, what he meant:  
"You.. You mean… This was your first kiss ever?!"

Still all red in the face, Link nodded.

"Uhm…"

Zelda blushed as well now. She obviously didn's exspect this… Finally, she turned her head away and said somewhat embarrassed:

"Actually… it was my first kiss as well…"  
"Zelda…?"

She looked at him again and smiled:

"And I'm glad I gave it to you!"

Link still didn't know, what to say, as Zelda continued:

"You… You are kind, strong… You always put the others before yourself! You never look away, when there's anybody on need of your help. Your heart is pure and so full of courage, it's a miracle it can hold it all! Wherever you go, you touch the people… you touched me as well! And… And ever since I first saw you and… first heard the sound of your name… I know that I knew you before! I knew you, a long, long time ago… I just can't remember this time… And… You feel it too, right?"

Link nodded approvingly. It was true. Ever since he first saw Princess Zelda, he knew that he had met her before… that she was familiar to him…

Zelda closed her eyes:

"I know, this may sound odd, since we actually haven't been knowing each other that long yet… But you are my best friend, Link."  
"Zelda…"

Finally, Link found words to say again:

"I… I am sorry… but I can't…"  
„Stay here?", she asked. A short sigh: „I know. And I wouldn't want you to either."

This statement surprised him and he listened closly, as the princess explained:

"This castle… as beautiful as it may be, it is also a prison. I'm imprisoned by my obligations towards the people of Hyrule. I… I would love to be free to go where I want and dress like I want, talk like I want and behave like I want. But I can't. I am the Princess. And I will always be. But… keeping you here, Link… this would equal imprisoning a bird in a golden cage. "

She smiled at him:

"Link, you must be free. Because freedom is an important part of who you are. Without it, you wouldn't be you anymore. Just like I wouldn't be Princess Zelda if I wasn't imprisoned by my obligations. I would be someone else. But you must not change. Link has to stay Link. Because I like you just the way you are. Even if this means, that we won't be able to play like this together again…"

Zelda seemed depressed by that thought.

Link took her hand:

"Hey. I'll come to visit you! As many times as you want! Promise!"

"Huh!"

Zelda looked up in shock:  
„N-No! You can't…"

"Huh?", Link backed of a lottle in surprise: „Zelda…"

"Father wouldn't let you go anymore!"

"What?!"

"It is the truth…"

Zelda seemed rather embarrased about what she went on to tell him then:

"He said that he wants to keep you here, as my personal guardian. He knows about you and me baring two parts of the stolen Triforce of the golden realm… He said, it would be the safest to keep the two of us here in the castle, where we can be supervised. Also, he thinks that the fact that you almost drowned in the river proves his point, that we cannot let you wander the outskirts of Hyrule all by yourself…"

"T-The king wants to imprison me?!"

"Not really "imprison", but he would ask you to stay in a way that you can't refuse. But I don't want you to be forced to spend the rest of your life here… That's why… That'sy why you must leave now! "

Zelda ran to a window in the corner of the room, leaned out of it and did something, she turned towards Link again:

"I prepared the ladder I sometimes you to sneak into the castletown… Epona it by the town's gates! I asked Impa to bring her there."

„Zelda…"  
„Please… you have to go now, Link!"

Link tried to smile a little bit:

"Thank you…"

He went to the window and started to climb down the ladder:

"We'll met again, Zelda! I promise!"

„Link…"

He winked at her:

„You said, I was free to go where I want! So one day, I'll come to visit you anyway! No king is gonna stop me!"

„Heheh…"

Zelda's eyes seemed a little wet, but she was still smiling:

"So… until we meet again, Link…"

"Until we meet again, Princess Zelda."

He climbed down the ladder and ran to Epona, riding away on her … far far away from Hyrule castle.

-~-

"4 days…"

That's how much time had passed now… That's how long he had been riding through the forest alone again now.

Zelda was right… He was free to go where he wanted… but where was he supposed to go?

Back to the Kokiri? No way. He was already starting to have his first growth spurt. Knowing them as well as he did, they would get scared of him as soon as they realized that he was changing and the whole no-fairy-weirdo business would start all over again. He's had enough of this.

Maybe Kakariko? No… there was nobody there whom he knew well enough to actually ask to take him in. And he was a child, he had to keep hat in mind. If he asked them for a house to live him all by himself, he'd probably get the same weird looks that he got in Termina when he tried to leave the Town unarmed.

Lon Lon Ranch was another option. Malon would surely persuade her father to take him in- Nope. Talon was renowned for being incredibly lazy. If he went there, he'd probably end up doing his farm-work along with that Ingo-guy for the rest of his days. This was not the kind of future, he was hoping for…

But, actually… what was he hoping for his future anyway?

Zelda compared him to a bird… but…

If he really was a bird, didn't he have a nest to return to now and then anywhere? Where was the place he could call "home"?...

"Hm… Oh."

Link noticed that he was riding next to a small river, which he almost overlooked, since he was so sunken in his thoughts…

Time for a little break. He needed to drink some water.

Tiredly, he got of Epona and went over to the river and leaned over it.

His reflection in the water showed him a very tired looking boy…

He seemed so … discouraged…

Actually… was it possible to disqualify for a Triforce-piece? If yes, he may have been just on the verge to loosing his right now.

Or he had just been missing too many nights of sleep lately, either was fine with him. He couldn't seem to get back into the right sleep rhythm ever since the events of…

Uhh, he didn't want to think of it.

He sighed and splashed some of the cold water into his face, as he suddenly heard a voice from behind.

A silent whimper…

Somebody was crying.

In surprise, Link turned around and sharpened his ears.

There was somebody coming… Link got ready to battle, but it shouldn't get that far:

Suddenly, a child came run towards him, crying:

"Mama! Papa! Help me! I'm scared, help me!!"

„Woah! You, watch out!!"

The child didn't even seem to notice Link and Epona and ran right past them without even opening his eyes. He almost tripped and had fallen into the river, hadn't Link caught him in the last moment:

"Ah!"  
"Hey! Careful, OK?!"

Link pulled the little boy back up, carefully, so he wouldn't fall back right again. He child opened his eyes and looked at Link…

Link just asked:

"Hey, are you alright? What happened?"

The little boy started crying again:

"Mama and Papa are gone! Everybody is gone! I'm lost! I'm all alone and lost!"

Link couldn't bear watching the little guy cry like this, so he tried to calm him down:

"Hey, hey, everthing's gonna be alright! Don't cry, OK? I'll help you to find your parents!"

But the child didn't stop crying:  
"No, they are gone, they won't come back, I'm alone! I'm lost! Help me!!"

"Please, calm down, OK?"

Link took the boys hands, and tried to encourage him a little:

"I'm sure, it's not that bad! They are surely waiting for you somewhere! So… where did you last see them?"

"I dunno…", the boy answered silently.

"Uhm… Ok… where do you live?"

"…Dunno…"

"What do your parents look like?"

The boy shook his head.

"And what are their names?"

Silence.

Finally, the child said something again:

"I… don't remember at all…"

He cried again:

"I won't ever get home again! I'm lost!!"

„Does that mean, you lost your memory?... Huh!"

Link was startled, when he saw noticed that something about the child wasn't quite right…

It's skin felt very leathery… almost a little bit like wood. He looked into the boys eyes and saw, that they were extremely bloodshot… and the child's hair looked a little bit like straw…

Lost…

"Oh… yeah, right…"  
That's when Link remembered:

„Those must be the outskirts of the Lost Woods, huh? Wow, I was so sunken in my thought, I didn't pay attention to where I was going at all…"

He looked around:

"I remember…Everybody who gets lost here turns into a Stallfos or a Skullkid… Those forests are lost, forgotten and forsaken… Nobody can hope to find refuge here… That's what the Dekutree told us…"

Meanwhile, the child in his arms continued to whimper. Link felt so sorry for that little boy.

In reality, he wasn't too different from this child.

He didn't know where to go either… had no parents and also didn't even know too much about himself.

But… he was being protected from the curse of the Lost Woods by the Triforce of Courage, the power of the Goddesses.

This child didn't have anything or anyone to protect it. Nothing and nobody to show him the way out of this forest. He wouldn't find refuge...

Those woods were lost, forgotten and forsaken. This was why everybody who wandered them became lost, forgotten and forsaken as well.

"But… what if this place wasn't lost and forgotten?", Link came to think suddenly "Maybe this forest only became like this in the first place, because the people have forsaken it… because everybody deemed it lost and forgotten… So… What would happen, if somebody would call this place "home", without being scared of it? Would it stop to be "lost" and "Forsaken" then?...

Maybe this place could become a refuge after all then. For people like him or me…"  
Link looked around, as a mild breeze moved the dark leaves of trees…

Actually, this place was very beautiful… There really was no reason for it to be lost, forgotten or forsaken…

Link opened his eyes wide:

"That's it!!"

The child looked up to Link, when he suddenly raised it up into the air:

"Waah!"

"I know what I will do!", Link stated cheerfully: "I will build a village here! A village to take everybody in who gets lost in the woods! My Triforce will protect them all from the curse and maybe, one day, the curse will disappear on its own then! Then, nobody will get lost here anymore and everybody who doesn't know where to go can find a home! Do you understand?"

The little boy looked at Link in disbelieve:

"You… You really think that this is possible?..."

Link just grinned:

"Say, don't you want to help me="

"Uhh… I… I don't know if I can help that much with… building a village…"

"Of course you can! We will do it, trust me!"

Now it was Link, who was shining with sunlight-like radiance. He finally put the boy down to the ground again.

"By the way, my name is Link! What's yours?"

"Uhm…"

Link reached out his hand to the child… he took it:

"I… I'm…

Il-…Ilyas"

Fort he first time, the little boy smiled:

"Y-Yes! That's my name! I'm Ilyas!"

Link laughed:

„Nice to meet you, Ilyas! Well, we should get started than, huh?"

"Yeay!", Ilyas antworted enthusiastically "Uh… but… once we built that village… what will we call it?"

" I already know a nice name!", Link said "There's a really beautiful spring, not too far from here! A spring called-"

-~-

…

_Of course… that's… that's what happened…_

_We built that village and… _

_So many things happened…_

_How… how could I ever forget that?_

_How… does this all make sense?_

_It doesn't make any sense…_

_Zelda, what happened to me?_

_Please tell me…_

_Hey… _

_Hey…_

-~-

"Hey! Wake up! Toki! Please!!"

_---Note_

_Welcome to the flashback!_

_If it's a good one or not is for you to decide. ;-p_

_Ahh… it feels good to be able to use the name "Link" without causing utter confusion. XD_

_Most of this fanfic__ = FourSwords minus Two._

_Well, kinda._

_As for the Zel-Link shipping in this chapter: Sorry about that to everybody who dislikes the pairing. It's just that I needed that little, heartwarming cheek-kiss to set up a lot of plot points latter, involving both TP Zelda and Tetra. Between, they don't end up together anyway (at least not in that fanfic), so I hope you can forgive me._

_And as for the ZelLink-shippers among you: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! XD_

_As this fanfiction is a translation and this chapter had originally been written about a year ago, it's obvious that I added the part about Zelda dressing up a knight (= Phantom Guardian), but the other costumes have all been there originally._

_Princess Zelda, the cosplay girl! FEAR HER! XD_

_Not only is this whole cosplay scene a giant shout out to other Princesses Zelda, it's also preparation for future plot points. Including the speech Zelda gave afterwards._

_The king of Hyrule is a dick. Come on, you knew it, I know you did. _

_I was nice enough to give Zelda a mother. A mother with 2 lines total. Yay me. ;-P_

_I hope Zelda isn't giggling too much though… but giggling is somehow the first thing that springs into my mind when I think of young Zelda…_

_Giggling and that weird statement about Ganondorf having "evil eyes". But mostly the giggling._

_Well, I guess it's quite obvious to whom that Ilyas kid in the forest is a reference (just read the name, for Farore's sake) and yes, there is a connection. _

_Which makes it also obvious what the name of the village, which's name I conveniently didn't mention, is. XP_

_Shall I burn in fanfic hell if Zelda Wii actually comes along and contradicts me. (Already heard the rumors that OoT Link is going to be the main character of that game?)_

_As for the title of the chapter:_

_Phoenix= Golden and reborn over and over again. _

_Triforce and Link. _

_BINGO!!!_

_Yeah… uhm…_

_I'm a genius?... Heh heh…. XD_

…_Actually… no… I'm not. T.T_

_(Will be on vacation in Spain next week. Which means, no new chapter until I'm back. ^^;)_


	21. Securing the future

Chapter 21:

Securing the future.

_Why… _

_Why did this seem so familiar?_

…

_He was waking up from a dream… and a voice was calling him. _

_Oh yes. _

_That's what he just remembered._

_Remembered…_

"Hey! Com'on! Don't just let us hang like this, alright?!"

_A voice. But not Princess Zelda's. _

_It was his own voice… no, a little different. A little higher in pitch, a little more nervous and a little less soft…_

_But still his. That of the other "him"._

_Oh yes… Now, he recalled…_

Link…

Toki opened his yes:

"Oh…"

"Ahh…"

Both, Kaze and Eyne sighed in utter relieve.

"Never do this again…", Kaze whispered.

"Never, never, never!!", Eyne added more or less shouting at him, causing Kaze to turn at her:

"Hey, go easy on him, he just woke up again."

"B-But I was so scared!"

"Oww… My head…", Toki stated, half to gain their attention again, half just to hear his own voice and get his mind back into reality… what happened just n—

His eyes widened abruptly.

Just now…

Of course!

"Hey, are you alright?"

Kaze bowed down to Toki and looked a little worried:

"Why did you pass out? What happened?"

Exactly. That was the right question. What did happen to him? This… this…

Now everything made even less sense then before! How… How…How…

But… more importantly…

"I…"

"Toki?"

"I remember again!!"

He suddenly sat up and shook his head to get it clear. After reassuring that he was not just still dreaming and indeed awake again, he continued:

"I remember everything again!"

„Heh? W-What do you mean?"

A puzzled look accompanied this question of Kaze:

"Wait a minute… you don't mean… You remembered how you died?!"

"HE DIED?!", Eyne exclaimed in shock, completely clueless as to what the boy was talking about

Meanwhile, Toki quickly raised his arms and hastily stated:

"N-No, not that—well, actually, yes, but that's not it… well it kind of is, but it's completely different from what you think! I… I…"

"What are you talking about?!"

"I had a life!!"

"…"

Silence for a short moment. Finally, Kaze gave him an even more clueless look than before and a single word came out of his mouth:

"What."

It was the kind of "what" a person gives when they just heard something that makes no sense in context whatsoever.

"Ah—I mean… I just remembered that I… well, it's kinda weird, but…"

"Calm down now, alright?", Kaze sighed: "I will never get what you are trying to tell me like this. One by one… Just try to tell me what you remembered. We'll talk about the rest later, OK?"

"Alright…"

Toki took a deep breath:

"Just now… when that spell hit us, I had a kind of… kind of Flashback."

"A Flashback?"

He nodded:

"Yeah, and a rather long one at it… approximately 60 years long. I suddenly recalled… more than 60 years…"  
"What?!"

In disbelieve, Kaze starred at him.

"S-Sixty… but…."

"I suddenly remembered, what happened after Termina---Correction. _That_ anything happened after Termina at all! I made it back to Hyrule. I settled down, founded a small village, had a wife, children, a calm life and finally died peacefully of old age. The end."

"…Old …Age?", Kaze asked with emphasis on both words. "But… you…"

He mustered the approximately 13 years-old looking boy before him with his eyes, while the same replied:

„I know!"

Toki looked down himself:

"And… And it's not just my body! I don't feel like an adult either! I went completely back to being a child, like I had been reset or something! Even now that I remember everything, it's not like I could actually relate to that older me in my memories. And… More importantly…"

He looked at the ground and added in a more silent voice:

"More importantly… this doesn't check out…"

"Huh?"

Toki looked up again:

"What I remember… It doesn't check out with your stories! Neither with what you told me, nor with what the Great Dekutree said! I came back to Hyrule and Hyrule wasn't flooded during King Daphnes Nohansen's rule! I survived him! He died before I did."

"But King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule was here! He was the one to tell me what happened to Hyrule!", Kaze stated "The King of Red Lions… Why should he have me told something that never happened? He wouldn't have lied at me!"

"No, just locked you away along with his daughter…"

"What?"

"Oh. Never mind."

Toki stood up again:

„Also, when I spoke to the Great Deku Tree two days ago… Do you remember what he said?"

"No.", Kaze stated "You were talking ancient Hylian. I didn't understand a word."

"Wait… ancient…?"

Now it was Toki's turn to look puzzled:

"So… When you didn't understand that song that friend of yours sung, it was not just because of the old dialect?"

"Nope. I actually don't speak that language. Nobody does anymore. Except Tetra, that tree, a dragon and some fish."

"But…what are we talking now then?!"

Kaze opened his mouth and raised his finger… but stopped and said nothing. He threw a look at Eyne:

"…Does our language even have a name?..."

Eyne shrugged:

"…Great Sea-an?"

"That sounds stupid."

"I know, I made it up."

"Obviously."

"OK, guys, forget that I asked.", Toki interrupted them, before the '?'-issue could confuse him any more than it already did:

"…There are weirder things to worry about right now. The Great Deku Tree acted, like I never returned from Termina. He said that Ganon returned, while I was gone… But it can't have happened like that! Ganondorf didn't come back while I was gone and… He's a guardian spirit! He should know! Something is wrong… Something is wrong with those memories… why did I lose them in the first place? And why am I a child again? That doesn't make any sense!"

"Hm… Maybe it's because of me?", Kaze asked. "I was the one to summon you after all. And I am a child. Also… I don't know why, but when I thought "Hero of Time" I thought "My age". Probably because of that tradition we have…"  
He looked down at his tunic.

"But that doesn't explain how you could meet a King Daphnes Nohansen, who told you that I didn't come back during his rule! I was on his freakin' funeral, for crying out loud!"

"But-I-met-him! He-was-my-BOAT!"

"But according to my memories, his story never happened!"

"ARGHHH!"

Kaze sat down on the floor and held his head:

"Great! Now we got two conflicting stories, which are about as compatible to each other as you and beer!"

"HEY!"

"How are we supposed to make any sense out of that?! Every time I think, we finally figured out _something_, the next detail comes along and _screws_ everything over again!"

"Welcome to time-travel, buddy!", Toki faked a laugh "Where your headaches never end! Believe me, I got experience with this kind of thing… except that this time, I have not the slightest clue _how _this is even remotely possible!"

Kaze nodded:

"Yeah, we must be missing out something important! Either you remembered stuff that never happened, or I got _told_ stuff that never happened!

"Yeah, it's like those were two absolutely separate stories— Wait…"

Something inside Toki's head clicked, as he said this… But he couldn't quite tell what. Two separate stories… this reminded him on something. But what? Something he heard not too long ago, he was sure…

Wasn't there something else strange about what the Deku Tree told him as well?...

"Ehem, excuse me, boys…"

Eyne was floating up and down in an irritating manner:

"But isn't there a sage waiting for you?"

She gestured at the altar:

"Hurry, Hurry!"

"Oh! Darunia!", Toki remembered.

Kaze nodded:

"Let't put your past aside for now and focus on how to get the sage of fire to awaken!"

They approached the altar and found a blank stone tablet. A piece of coal lay beside it…

"Oh, I know this one!", Kaze stated "It's a magical drawboard. You have to write a symbol or password onto it, in order to solve the riddle!"

"Hm…"

Toki looked around carefully:

"Hey, there's something written here!"

"Really?"

Kaze bowed down… but found himself unable to read the writing.

Ancient Hylian. He frowned.

Luckily, Toki started reading aloud:

"The future lies in the hands of the children. Children, who can become heroes, if you give them the chance to. The future belongs to all children, but only two link the people of fire and fields through brotherhood and only those two open the way to the one whose time has passed."

"Sounds like some corny Greeting Card.", Kaze stated with a grin. "Or an oversized fortune cookie."

"Hahaha… Hmm…"

Toki took a second to think:

"Saria said, the only way to reawaken the sages where things, that they chose themselves to be the key… and this talks about children…Ah! I get it!"

Proudly, Toki looked up from the Hylian writing:

"I was a sworn brother of the Gorons! And Darunia has a son, whom their people called a hero as well!"

"Which gives us the two children!", Kaze nodded "But… what are we supposed to write on the board now?"

Toki grinned:

"Simple! Darunia named his son after me! And what did the riddle say again? 'Only two _link_ the people…'"

"Ah! Well, that's a piece of cake than!", Kaze laughed.

He picked up the coal and wrote his signature onto the board.

Immediately, his writing started to glow.

The Links crossed their fingers, that it would work… if not, they'd have a problem. But there was no need to worry after all:

The light that illuminated Kaze's writing soon passed on to the rest of the altar and finally lit up the whole room. Finally, from the center of the light, a person appeared.

A Goron.

Darunia, sage of fire.

"So, you solved the puzzle? Well, that was only to expect of a sworn brother of the Gorons. Ha Ha Ha!"

"It's a honor to meet you again, Darunia!", Toki stated right away and bowed. Kaze quickly imitated this, but Darunia gestured:

"No need to be so formal , Brother. A friend is always welcome."

"Oh… alright then."

Toki stood up straight again.

As Kaze rose his head again as well, he had to smile… How Darunia treated Toki was very similar to how the Goron Leader in the Realm of the Ocean king had been to him. It was probably Goron-custom to treat sworn brothers like this.

… Oh, he hadn't greeted him yet! He bowed down again:

"Ah--- Great Darunia I am… honored to meet you."

"Honor" again, because he couldn't come up with a synonym for that word that quickly. How awkward…

"I am the new hero… but you probably know that already, so…"

"Ah, not you too… Stand up, brother, if you bow forward like that for long, you're gonna fall on your nose!"

"Huh?"

Kaze stood up straight as well. He looked a little confused. Toki laughed:

"Seems like what applies to me, applies to you as well in the sages' eyes! Heheh"

"Hmm.", Darunia agreed with a nod: "I guess, Saria already told you about everything, didn't she?"

Both boys nodded.

Darunia laughed again:

"Ha Ha Ha. Ah, if just my son could see this… So much courage and will gathered in one place! That's something special, I say!"

"We do our best!", both Links answered simultaneous… causing them to laugh right afterwards.

"Well, 2 sages down, Impa already taken care of, 3 more to go!", Toki stated, rubbing his nose satisfied.

But Darunia shook his head:

"2"

"Huh?"

The boys looked up at the sage, as he stated:

"2. Not 3. Only 2 of us are left now."

"Wait! Does that mean, someone else already broke the seal on another sage?", Kaze asked in surprise „Who?"

"Yeah, yeah… who?", Darunia repeated and closed his eyes:

"Princess Zelda, that's who! She lifted the seals on Impa and Rauru!"  
"ZELDA?!"

The boys gasped. Did that mean…

Darunia nodded:

"The descendant of the royal family. The one baring the Triforce of wisdom. I have to say, she's quite clever and skilled for a that young girl!"

"Tetra.", Kaze stated joyfully "Tetra lifted the 2 other seals… So she's alright! She's been helping us all the time!"

Darunia nodded again.

"Where's she right now?!", Kaze asked in excitement.

The sage of fire answered:

"Just a few moments ago, she was in a hidden sanctuary inside the tower of the gods. That's where she helped Rauru to awaken. She's now on her way to the next temple, in order to break the next-to-last seal."

"Alright!", Kaze jumped: "Which means Tetra is alive and well and there's only one more temple for us to clear! We're gonna meet up again, restore the order, I'll get my baton back and everything will be alright!"

"Wait a minute… so… the two remaining sages would be Nabooru and…"

As Toki thought about this… suddenly horror befell him and his expression reflected this:

"Oh no…"  
His pupils narrowed and he started shivering:

"..Darunia?"

"Yes, Brother?"

"Would you… please… _please_ tell me that the temple we'll have to head to now, is the Spirit Temple? …P-P-Please?"

There was something begging in his voice--- before Darunia could even answer, Toki suddenly fell on his knees:

"PLEASE tell me that Zelda took the _**darn**_ Water Temple and that we are gonna go see Nabooru!! Nabooru, and not R—"

"Nabooru?", Darunia asked in confusion: "No, sorry… actually, she's the one Zelda is going to take care of now. You'll head to the Water Temple and awaken Ruto, Princess of the Zora."

"NOOOOOOOO!!!", Toki shouted "All, but Ruto!! Not Ruto!!"

"Ehh…" Kaze almost didn't dare to ask "What's wrong with Ruto?"

Toki looked like he was about to burst into tears of horror:

"She _wants_ me!!"

"Uhm… But at least she's not a giant fairy, is she?"

"Ruto is HORRIBLE!", Toki exclaimed, looking like he had a server headache: "She's a spoiled, arrogant, vain…"

"Uhm, don't forget that you're talking about another sage, brother.", Darunia tried to remind him, but Toki didn't care:

"She started flirting with me after I saved her from some monster when she was little and now she won't leave me alone! I can't even get _near_ her without her mentioning—I just don't want to see her!"

"Com'on.", Kaze tapped him on the shoulder: "This was thousand years ago! Maybe she has changed and it's not gonna be that bad!"

"_Or_ she used that 1000 years in stasis to come up with more cheap pickup-lines for seducing heroes!", Toki argued "Argh… why am I even bothering… It's not like I had a choice… Ha~llo Ruto… Oh joy…"

Toki shivered a last time, then he tried to think about something different got a little calmer.

Even though Toki's reaction to finding out that they'd have to meet Ruto had been pretty hilarious and Kaze actually had to hold himself back from laughing, he also felt compassion for his poor buddy. If that Ruto woman was really that horrible-

Wait a sec-

Didn't they just say, that the sages applied to him everything they applied to Toki? Wouldn't that mean, that Ruto woman would-

-He quickly stopped thinking about it, because he was gonna snap out just like Toki, if he did too long.

"OK… Is there anything else that we should now, Darunia?", Kaze asked quickly.

Toki nodded:  
"Yeah, you know, we're… kinda confused about everything right now. This whole situation is beyond chaotic!"

"Hm…", Darunia took a moment to think: "Sorry, we sages are trying our best to find out what exactly caused all those problems, but as for now, I have to admit, we are rather clueless ourselves. All we can sure about is that somebody caused this chaos on purpose. Somebody who had access to strong magic. Also…"

Darunia took a short break:

"For some reason, the Triforce left the sacred realm again…And it's rather active."

"So it _was _really gone?", Kaze asked. He took a look at his left hand: "But… why did it come back then?"

„And its shining pretty brightly…", Toki added, rising his arm, in order to take a closer look „Can't remember, when it last did that…"

"The activity is greater than it should be.", Darunia explained "You see, if the Triforce grants a wish that involves breaking the powers of the gods, it returns to its original place in the sacred realm. You can see this as a kind of security measure. But for some reason, the Triforce of Courage and Wisdom returned to you and Zelda now."

"And… what about the Triforce of Power?", Kaze asked with fear in his voice.

Darunia just shook his head:

"No idea, brother…"

Kaze shivered…If the Triforce of Power was missing… Oh no… What if Tetra was right?...

"And… can one piece of the Triforce exist… twice?"

This question came rather suddenly from Toki. He showed the back of his hand to Darunia:

"There should only be one Triforce of Courage, shouldn't it? But we both got a mark! Does this mean that we somehow both got the Triforce?"

Pondering about this question, Darunia put his hand to his chin:

"Actually… this shouldn't be possible. It may be possible to part life-force… You two might have noticed that- as basically the same being in two different forms- you are sharing yours right now, didn't you?"

The boys looked up.

"So this is why…", Kaze whispered and Toki nodded:

"This explains a lot."

"The Triforce, however, is different.", Darunia explained "It's the power of the goddesses, crystallized into its purest form. It is impossible to replicate it and if the separate pieces of the Triforce are further split, they just become shards that have no individual power and wouldn't accept a bearer until reassembled. "

"But why does my mark shine too then?", Toki asked.

"A reflection, I guess.", Darunia said, but he didn't sound completely sure. "Yours shines, because his does… But that's all I can tell you, really. I'm a little ashamed not to be able to help you further…"

"You still helped us a lot!", Toki stated "Thank you for everything!"

And he bowed again and again, Kaze mimed him.

And again, Darunia laughed:

"Brother, we have to thank _you_! Without your and Princess Zelda's hard work, we sages would be absolutely powerless right now! You are truely something special, Link…"

As both of the boys looked rather flattered, Darunia started to fade out of their view.

"We sages will continue to help you with all the power we've got! Good Luck!"

Darunia disappeared, as the shine in the room faded. Finally, the only light in it came from the volcano's magma again…

"…It's still rather hot in here.", Kaze suddenly stated. As he started to sweat buckets of water again, he suddenly remembered why he started out disliking the Hero's clothes so much…

Toki nodded:  
"Let's get out of here, before we're dried out completely!"

The two of them ran towards the exit…

… Eyne stayed behind.

Absentminded, she just starred at the altar.

"Sworn Brothers… Friends, huh?"

She took a quick glance at the bandages around her wound…

…It didn't hurt at all anymore…

…

"Uhm…"

"Eyne, Com'on! We want to get out of here!", Kaze's voice suddenly echoed from the exit.

The fairy looked up. She turned around and followed the boys, without looking back even once.

-~-

Sunrays.

Incredible, how bright they could seem to you if you were just coming from a dark cave, only lit by glowing streams of magma.

Even if there was no more heat to bother the two of them now, their hurting eyes certainly made up for it. At least Toki could finally get out of the large, red Tunic and put it back into his bag:

"Well… one more Temple to go, I guess. Once we managed this, everything will go back to normal and you'll get back your baton."

"Actually, getting back the Wind Waker is not that important to me."

Kaze smiled in joy:

"What I actually care about is, that I finally know that Tetra's fine. I'm so incredibly relieved… I wish, we could meet her right now, but, well, at least now we know where she is! Heheh…"

With a big grin, Toki assured him:

"Zelda will get through the Spirit Temple in no time, trust me! She's clever. And she absolved the Shadow Temple and whatever is replacing the Temple of Time now faster than we got through the Forest- and Fire Temples!"

"Hmm… actually, that's kinda weird." Kaze looked down, up and at Toki:

"How did she manage that, all by herself? Yes, Tetra's skilled, but still…"

That's when Eyne suddenly started to giggle:

"Hee hee. Well, I guess it's a whole lot easier without all those monsters chasing you!"

"Huh?"

With puzzled looks on their faces, the boys turned towards Eyne, who, still smiling, asked:

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Without all those monsters?", Toki repeated what she said "What do you mean by that, Eyne?"

"AH!"

Eyne's wings stopped moving for a split second, when she heard those words and she had almost fallen down to the ground, hadn't she quickly started fluttering again. She hurried to get up to the boys eye height again and put on a rather artificial looking smile

"Hee Hee… Well… you know… Oh! You surely noticed that the monsters are clearly focusing on chasing the two of you, aren't you? So they might have let her alone! Hee Hee…"

She seemed nervous, but in a very different way from usual.

Which earned her a very skeptical look from Toki: With slightly slanted eyes, he looked at her, like he was waiting for a better explanation…

Eyne, however, just tried not to look into his direction anymore.

Her words seemed to have caught on with Kaze at least, who's thoughts were completely focused on Tetra's wellbeing right now:

"Of course! Hey, that's probably what happened: Tetra's progressing faster than us, because the monsters are only attacking us! Don't you think so too?"

„Hm… yeah, probably."

Toki finally let his eyes off the fairy, who seemed strangely relieved about this.

"…Maybe the monster's are somehow tracking down the Triforce of Courage. This would explain why they are so numerous and persistent."

"Uhm…"

The Triforce…?

Just why did Kaze have the weirdly uncomfortable feeling, that this was not the actual reason…?

"HEY! LINK!"

„Huh?"

Two voice pulled Kaze out of his thoughts. He looked down the path…

Medli and Komali came run their way. The young Rito girl was the first to reach them:

"Thank heavens… You're alright!"

She sighed relieved.

"There were earthquakes, so we thought the volcano was going to erupt! The great Valoo even left his spot on the top for a few minutes!"

"We were really worried for you two in there!", Komali stated in excitement "What did happen?!"

"We don't exactly now." Kaze told them with a shrug "But we still managed to finish what we came here for, so it doesn't really matter unless someone got hurt… Was anybody hurt?"

"Nope.", Komali shook his head "Everyone is fine. For whatever reason this earthquakes started, I guess we were lucky that they ended so quickly again."

"So… you're going to move on now?"

Medli couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Uhm, I guess so… We've still something important to take care of somewhere else."

"So you probably won't be at the festival… That's a pity!", Medli stated her opinion "I practiced with Radin this morning. Her new choreography is marvelous! This is going to be her best dance ever!"

When Kaze saw the shine in Medli's eyes, he laughed:

"Ah… Well… maybe, we'll finish our quest in time for the festival! Then we'll surely attend! Promise!"

Happy and seemingly slightly surprised by this statement, Medli bowed a little bit and nodded:  
"Oh! Of course! We'll reserve you two spots in the front row for the dancing contest! Right?"

She threw Komali a smile and he answered it with his own smile and nodded:

"Of course!"

"Heheh…" Kaze smiled as well: "Thank you two! We're already looking forward to it, right…huh?"

Kaze realized that suddenly, Toki became silent. His face didn't look exactly happy either… what was he thinking about right now?

"We'll fly back and tell your people to prepair!", Medli said and Komali nodded:  
"Yeah, the faster you can set out to your next destination, the faster you can finish your quest and come back to visit us! Come, Medli, let's go!"

"Alright!"

The two of them spread their wings and took off:

"See you later!!"

"See you later, Medli, Komali!", Kaze shouted, as he waved at them…

Then, he let his arm sink. He turned towards Toki…

Somehow he seemed rather… upset.

"Is something wrong…?", Kaze asked carefully.

"Well… it's because that girl said she'd keep two spots reserved for us…", Toki said in a calm, but somewhat melancholical tone.

"Hm?"

Since he didn't understand what Toki meant, Kaze just tilted his head a little bit…

"Ahh…"  
Toki sighed… He turned around and looked up to the sky:

"One more temple to go… then, everything will be alright again. Everything will go back to normal here…"

He closed his eyes:  
"Everything will be the way it's meant to be again… which means for me…"

"AH!"

Kaze was shocked when he realized what Toki was talking about…

Of course!

According to the sages, Toki was his past self and not supposed to exist next to him… once the order of everything was restored… did that mean, that he would fade away once that happened?

Kaze approached him a little:  
"H-Hey! Don't worry, Ok?! We'll surely find a way to—"

"No…"  
Still looking at the sky, Toki shook his head. Finally, he turned around. He was smiling:

"I'm not worried about that."

"Huh?"

"This is the way it is supposed to be. I was brought here, when this started. And once it's over… I'll be gone again."

"But…"

Cutting Kaze short, Toki closed his eyes again and went on to explain:

"I'm remembering my life again… I had a life. And not a bad one, I'd say. For all the bad times there were, there were also many happy times to make up for it. I'm glad that I got the memories of those times back…and…and, among the things I remember is…"

He opened his eyes again and gave Kaze a very determined look:

"When it ended, I was ready."

Kaze said nothing, as Toki continued:

"I was ready… but I think I wanted to see this world just once again after all. I guess I was curious how this world would continue. I guess this may be another reason why I'm here now. And you know what? Despite knowing what happened to Hyrule, I still like this world! I But… I already had my time. This is yours. I'll just see this as a kind of „trip". And once the trip is over, I'll go back to where I came from…"

_Back to where he came from…_

As Kaze heard this, he put his hand to his chest… 'where he came from'… yeah, but where was this? Actually… If he was him… where had this „he" that was standing before him right now been those past thousand years? Just gone? Would he be just gone?

Toki took a short breath, before he finished his speech:

"…I'm a little upset, that I won't get to see that festival and more of this world…there will be an empty seat at this contest…but I'll just enjoy the additional time I got. And once this time is up, I'll be ready, just like back then…"

"Hey! Don't say stuff like that!", Kaze suddenly shouted, with a somewhat scared tone in his voice: "That makes you sound, like you were…"

"Heheh…"

Toki sunk his head a short moment, then he looked up again and asked:

"Hey…"

"Hm?"

"You said, that you wished for meeting me… when you did, why exactly did you? What were you expecting to get by meeting me?"

"Well, I…"  
Kaze thought a moment… Actually, yeah, what?

"I…

I think, I wanted to know more about myself… Some people had already told me, that I was similar to the legendary hero. Even Ganondorf said something like that… but I can't exactly remember what he said… I wanted to know, why this was. I wanted to know how much of this hero I really had—No, not just this."

He stopped a short moment:

"I think… somehow… Somehow I also felt, that there is something, I didn't know yet. Something about us, Tetra and me, and that ancient legend. I wanted to know, why the Master Sword accepted me, when it was supposed to only accept you. Why the Triforce of Courage went into my body. Why Ganondorf saw me as a worthy opponent, even though I was just a child. And why—"

Suddenly Kaze seemed to recall something. He looked up:

„…There was a statue in Hyrule castle… A statue of you. And when I first saw that statue… I was so surprised. My first thought way: "It looks just like…me". But I didn't know where this thought came from. The statue was an adult and rather stylized. It could have been anybody, but for some reason I thought that it looked like me… Kind of like I somehow knew that this adult woman I saw was Princess Zelda..."

Kaze looked at his Triforce:

"I quickly forgot about that statue. I thought I was just imagining things because of all the stress I've been through. I discarded that portrait of a girl, looking just like Tetra, I saw there for the same reason. But somehow, the feeling that the ancient legend had something to do with me, wouldn't go away. Because of that, I wanted to know more about you… but actually, I also wanted to know more about myself…"

"And in the end, both of those goals turned out to be one and the same!", Toki added with a grin. He then added in a calm voice:

"As I said… I wanted to know, how this world would continue and… and I also wished I could see Navi again, so I could finally tell her goodbye."

"So, you never met her again?"

He shook his head.

"Hm… Well, maybe we'll meet her on our way to that last temple. The possibility is still there!"

Toki looked up and nodded:

"Yes… maybe…" He smiled "If I'd get this chance, I guess I'd have no more regrets."

"Arghh!" Kaze shock his head "Stop it! You're doing it again!"

"Doing what?"

"Talking like you were… you know what!"

"What?"

"Like you were gonna drop dead any second!"

"…What's wrong about that?"

"It… it creeps me out!"

"Why?"

"Because…"

Kaze took a deep breath:

"Because you are my friend and I can't stand my friends d-"

He didn't even want to finish the sentence.

"…Wow… " Toki bit his lip "I didn't think that would upset you like that…Now I feel actually _bad_ for not being able to stay."

"Sorry…", Kaze said, for no particular reason.

"Hey, you don't need to worry about me!"

"Hm?"

Kaze looked up and saw Toki smiling at him:

"You said that you felt the connection to the ancient legend, didn't you? So my memories are still somewhere inside you. Which means that I can't really go away! Well…hm…"

He thought a few seconds, and then came up with something:

"Ah! Think about it, as me being some sort of Guardian spirit to you! You won't see me, but I'll still be there!"

"…That's even creepier.", Kaze just replied.

"Hmpf!", Toki seemed to think different of this. He crossed his arms: "You're hard to please, you know that?"

"And you've got a weird definition of "please!", Kaze answered and crossed his arms as well. The two looked at each other for a few second… Then suddenly, laughed.

"Heheh… Hmm…"  
Kaze closed his eyes and thought about something:

"What I still don't get is, why my wish brought you here like this in the first place… wouldn't it have been easier to just let me remember the memories of this previous "me", instead of somehow transporting it here? And the sages don't even know how exactly this can even work! I mean, I just wanted to know about the hero of time. That song acted… unnecessarily complicated… Not that I would mind it, really!", he quickly added.

"I don't know how it can work either…", Toki said "But I don't really care, how it happened. But I'm glad it did. So… Don't worry about me. Let's enjoy this last bit of time I've got here like this, together, alright?"

Kaze looked at him, as he started to smile again. Toki said:

"I'm part of you. It's like Saria said: Our memories are what seperates us. Mine end where yours begin and the other way around. Just because we can't access them, it doesn't mean they're not there! Right?"

After a short break, Kaze smiled and nodded:

"Right."

They nodded at each other, as they crossed the bridge above the pond at the end of the path…

"KID!"

As the boys looked forwards again, they saw, that the pirates, as well as Linebeck, were already waiting for them on the other side of the bridge… looking rather startled for some reason.

"Guys!", Kaze exclaimed, as they came run their way.

"Ah, the kids are alright…", Nudge sighed, wiping away some sweat, while Niko ran up to Link(Kaze) and grabbed him by the collar:

"SWABBY! You worried us! Are you aware of that, ha?! HA!?"

"Ehh…", was Link's only response.

Gonzo rolled his eyes and explained:

"There were quakes, you know!"

Link looked at him:

"Yeah. What about that?"

„_What about that?!"_, Linebeck repeated in disbelieve, taking over Link's collar from Niko and starting to shake him.

"Wohhohohohoho---"

"That mountain sounded like a bomb store, that somebody set on fire! We thought you kids were FINISHED! Out, over, kaputt, gone, finito!!"

"Ah! Cut it out!"

Link(still the Kaze one), finally freed himself from Linebeck's grasp and tried, not to stagger, despite his dizziness:

"Wooohh…- Linebeck, I survived the temple of the Ocean King and Bellum himself. You think an eruption was gonna kill me? Come on!"

He rubbed his nose confidently and somewhat proud:

"I'm not that easy to get down! Piece of cake!"

"He almost collapsed because of a heat-stroke.", Toki suddenly added with monotonous voice.

The pirates (+ Linebeck) gasped.

"Hey!"

Kaze turned towards Toki:

"You too!"

"Yeah, but I didn't lie about it!"

"You WOULD have lied about it, if somebody brought it up!"

"But nobody did~!"

"Argh! I always said it: You're overdoing it, Kid!", Linebeck suddenly said: „Don't dare to die on us, OK?!"

A skeptical look appeared on Kaze's face when he heard this and he turned his eyes towards Linebeck:  
"Since when are _you_ that worried about me?"

Linebeck quickly leaned down to him and whispered:

"…Ever since you are the only thing keeping _those guys_ (he pointed at the pirates) on my side. Look…I just don't like the way they're looking at my pockets…"  
As the sailor shivered for a short moment, Link laughed:

"They? They are harmless! Every since Tetra declared herself 'crusader of the seas', the only thing they maraud is our own storage room at lunch-time! Without her permission, they wouldn't even hurt a fly! And even with it, the worst thing I ever saw them do was… uhm… catapulting me out of the ship, I guess… … OK, to be honest, that hurt… a lot… uhm… Now that I think about it, they once robbed a store and tied up the owner… You don't happen to have a store, do you?"

"Hey, what are you talking about?", Niko noticed Linebeck and Link whispering and tried to listen, but Gonzo was standing in his way and he couldn't get through, since he and the other pirates were being distracted by a dramatic retelling of the events inside the temple of fire, brought to them by none other than Eyne, fairy of overdone storytelling (or so it seemed):

"…and so a TEN FEET high fountain of lava shot out of the ground, burning with the flames of HELL ITSELF!! Believe me, I thought, the boys were done for, but stop-!! Our brave heros dodged every single deadly drop of the molten DOOM and got through without even so much as a scratch on them!! But what was that?! Hundreds and HUNDREDS of terrible, horrible BEASTS were making their way through this dreadful cave, towards us!! Already was I praying my last prayer for getting more luck, more courage and a better skin-tone in my next life, but wasn't the battle over yet! And the bravest warriors slew the beasts, slew them like they were harmless insects, cut them down like mere grass! It was awesome, inspired by awe, it was---"

"…But, this doesn't check out with what the boys said a few seconds ago…"

"Shut up, Mako, I want to hear this!", Senza quickly said.

Eyne was obviously having fun. Probably because this was her chance to talk fast, loud and a lot, without getting scolded by the others of it.

"Haha…"

Toki felt a little left out once again… But he didn't mind.

This wasn't his time. He was just a guest…

He glanced over towards the other Link.

It was his time.

"The hero of time"… Link started to understand, that his title had more than just one meaning… he didn't only cross the stream of time by becoming and adult. Or by using the song of time to repeat three days that have passed.

This was another way of his to cross the stream of time… this other "him". As well as the ones who came before them… and would probably come after them.

No matter, how much a person accomplishes, once their time is over, all they ever created can be undone very quickly. And they will never have the chance to restore it.

Link was different.

He could gain more time, when needed… by restarting from zero.

In a way this thought was very awesome… in another way, extremely sad and a little frightening.

How many forgotten lives had he already lived? How many forgotten friends and foes met?...

Then, he remembered that this live had been a "forgotten" one until recently as well. Sure, people remembered he existed in this time… but did anybody know that he was friends to a girl called "Saria"? Did the story ever mention that his horse actually belonged to a singing girl, called "Malon"? Or that the one who woke him up this one morning was a little, blue fairy, called "Navi"?

Did the legend tell of his friends smiling faces, of their gentle words or their encouragements?

Or even their sadness?

All those things were only in his memory… once he was gone, nobody would know about those memories anymore. Yet… they wouldn't die.

Because he wouldn't let them die.

As well as…

While thinking about all of this, Link had slowly walked over to the coast…he looked up to the sky again. Seagulls were floating in the wind, through the air, while the clouds' shadows drew curious paterns on the surface of the, seemingly endless, blue ocean…

Yes, this wasn't the Hyrule he held so dearly in his memories anymore. The fields and meadows and forests and towns and villages… all that stayed was a legend that changed, every time it was being told. One day, nothing about it would be correct anymore. And only a hidden memory would be left of the "ancient Kingdom", as the people here called it.

But… this "new" world… was beautiful as well.

Very beautiful.

Even if beyond it the ruins of "his" Hyrule were drowned…

It was still worth being protected. Worth being loved

…Not "Forsaken, Forgotten and Lost".

Protected by the goddesses, their wind and those who believe in their world…

…This world was not his anymore.

It was the world of his future.

And this future, that he had been allowed to catch a glance of, he would help protect. Because he wanted to thank them for this short glance.

Even if his "Hyrule" didn't exist any longer—

Wait.

Toki's eyes widened momentarily, when he noticed something.

This world---

Split.

Hyrule still existed.

That meant… Of course---

Suddenly, he realized what the source of the dissonance between the stories was… they _were_ different stories.

The world split.

Which meant—

"Wait a minute…"

Link let everything go through his head again… when he realized that something was still wrong about it.

Something… crucial.

About him.

"But… if that is true…if I really-"

The thought running wildly through his head, he starred at the open sea. Soft wind hit his face…

Link gulped:

"…What does that mean…

For him?"

_---Note_

_The much too long chapter._

_Brought to you by: HECK YEAH, MY SCIENTIFIC WORK FOR MY FINAL EXAMS IS FINALLY DONE, NOW I CAN FINALLY WRITE (FAN)FICTION AGAIN!_

_Also, Tenerife/Spain was fun. Unlike… the masses of snow we got here now._

…_I can't remember when we last had THAT much snow here in Austria… O.o… *looks out of the window* HOLY—Is that a tree or an oversized Snowman? O.o_

_As for this chapter, it's a lot longer than the german version, because I added a lot of stuff and expanded. Also, huge junks of dialog are changed, especially regarding OoT Link's flashback and his talk with TWW Link on their way back down the mountain. In the original, OoT Link was a lot less accepting of his probable fate to fade away once their quest is done, but I changed it, since I wanted to finally shift the focus of the "angst". I don't want OoT Link to be the synonymous with "Wangst" here. Also, I could show of some important personality-differences between the two Links that way, while still showing similarities as well. _

_As too what OoT Link noticed in the very end (and yes, that scene was not in the original german version. It stopped right after him deciding to help protecting that world), I want you to guess around like crazy and amuse myself by reading how far off or extremely close you are! XP_


	22. Clueless

Chapter 22:

Clueless.

"There's no doubt about it."

Toki studied Kaze's sea chart and his map alternately and the longer he looked at the two pieces of pergament, the more obvious it became that he wasn't mistaken.

"Outset Island is exactly the same location as Lake Hylia… We were walking _on_ the Water Temple all the time and I didn't notice. It's incredible, how that place could change like this…"

"Ah..."

This sigh was the only response he got.

"Huh?"

Toki turned around:

"Kaze?"

The other boy was standing beside him, but not paying attention to him at all. Instead, he was gazing out to the rippling waves of the ocean:

„…scattered across a handful of islands, drifting on this sea like fallen leaves on a forgotten pool… What can they possible hope to achieve?..."

"Huh? What's that?"

Kaze finally turned to Toki:

"That's what Ganondorf said to me, before our battle…"

He looked out to the horizon, sighing:

"But I never understood it. I mean… Maybe it is true, that our power is small compared to that of all the people who lived in the ancient Hyrule…but I still believe that we can do it. That we will rebuild the legacy of your people. Also, I never understood how Ganondorf could think, that our life here was "pathetic", as he put it."

He smiled a little:

"OK, granted, I probably only feel like this because I was born here, but… But I love our world. I think it's beautiful. And so, I just can't understand how anybody could hate it…"

"No, you're completely right.", Toki replied with a smile. Their thoughts were indeed similar as well…

"It may be true that this place is not perfect and that the Hyrule I lived in had things that this place will never have, but that doesn't mean that this world doesn't hold it's very own beauty as well… It's not all about wealth and prosperity. I think that's something that Ganondorf never quite understood."

"But… you are missing it, right?"

"What? My Hyrule?"

Kaze nodded as Toki turned towards him. Toki smiled:

"Of course I miss it. But I still like this place a lot as well."

"But it replaced your Hyrule…"

Kaze lowered his head a little, like he was feeling guilty for something:

"Doesn't this… bug you at all anymore?"

"Ha… Seriously, "bug" is an understatement!", Toki than explained. "I'm furious, because of what Ganondorf did. But it's not like this was your fault, or the fault of your people, or even the fault of your ocean. The one to blame is Ganondorf in his never-ending greed… And I will never forgive him, even if he's dead now. But, on the other hand, nobody of the people I met here yet would have ever been born if everything had worked out differently. That's why I also don't wish for the past of this world to be changed."

"Oh. I understand.", Kaze answered in slight awe at how … "wise" the other boy could elaborate on this.

"Also, I told you what the Great Deku Tree said. The thing about the split…"

Kaze nodded.

"On the other side, Hyrule still exists. On the other side, everybody was fine in the end. And to know that… is enough for me…"

"Hm… I wonder…" Kaze put his finger to his lips and thought aloud: "It's kind of strange to think about it, but after all, most of the differences between us come from me growing up as an islander, am I right? So, I wonder…if I had been born in this other, still-existing Hyrule… would I have been even more like you then?"

_If he had been born in—_

"…"

Suddenly, Toki looked away. Kaze took notice of this:

"Hm?"

He leaned towards him a little:

"Something wrong?..."

"…No…"

"You look like something was troubling you."

"It's…"

Toki took a short glance of the other boy's face, but then turned away again and sighed:

"…nothing."

"No. That's not true."

This line made Toki shiver a little. It was just so straight forward… And he knew that it was true. Still he kept looking away:

"Really, I'm fine. Why should anything be troubling me?"

"Stupid question after the talk we had on Dragon Roost!", Kaze gave him."Com'on. Is there something, you're not telling me?"

"…"

Finally Toki turned around again, carefully:

"Uhm… Hey… how far is it, till we reached Outset agai—"

"You're just dodging my question!", Kaze cut him short and there was a angry tone is his voice as he did.

"You started acting like this when we came to talk about that weird split-business, so it obviously has something to do with it. There is something wrong about it and you don't want to tell me! Am I right?"

"Argh!", Toki finally threw back: "Stop this! You don't have the right to know everything I'm thinking about! Ever heard of something called "personal space"?!"

"But why won't you tell me?!", Kaze asked furiously "I want to know what is going on here just as much as you! So… if you figured something out, I _do _have a right to know it!"

"I can decide myself what I want to tell you and what I don't! Don't act like my thoughts belonged to you."

"But I _am_—"

"We're still not absolutely identical!", Toki shouted: "You've got your mind and I've got mine! And each of us has the right to think what he wants. So…So quit acting like you knew everything about me!"

"…I don't."

The tone in Kaze's voice had completely changed all of the sudden; attracting Toki's attention… he looked at the other boy, who continued:

"It's true, wish I knew everything about you. But I don't. And I know that I probably never will. But still… I… I…"

Suddenly, he screamed:

"I just hate not being told what's going on around me!"

With those words, the boy suddenly turned around, ran away, opened the door to the under deck and smashed it closed behind him.

"Huh! Hey-"

Toki-

Link was rather shocked when he saw the other boy just running off like that…

But…he then noticed that he was still feeling fine. He looked at his own hand. They were neither pale, nor faded. Everything was still alright…

Link sighed:

"He's… just behind the door, isn't he?"

He let his arms sink again. Another sigh. What was that just now? Did they actually… start a fight? About something stupid as this? Just because he didn't tell him about…

…But he didn't want to tell him. First, he didn't even know if it was true or what exactly it actually meant. Secondly, he didn't want to unnecessarily worry him… Link knew all too good what it meant to suddenly be unsure about your own identity…

"Hehehe…"

In surprise, Toki turned to the right…

The giggling came from Eyne, who was sitting on the floor, next to the spell-crystal, Medli gave them. She had been working on it ever since they boarded the ship, in order to figure out what kind of spell it contained—

She was not facing him.

"You are weird. One moment you say you are friends. The next you shout for no reason. Why do you do it like this? What purpose does this behavior serve? Hylians are weird creatures. Hee Hee…"

The tone in her voice somehow alarmed Link. It sounded very calm and knowing… and her giggle was not the same as usual…

Suddenly, she turned around:

"Oh! Was I eavesdropping? Ah- Sorry, I didn't mean to stick my nose into someone elses business! But don't worry, I'm sure, you two will patch up things again very, very soon anyway! Still… that was impolite of me! Can you forgive me?"

And her voice was back to normal again. Her smile was completely normal as well…

Link… silently nodded, somewhat dumbstruck…

That was… weird.

* * *

Link stood right behind the door, starring at the ground for no particular reason. His heart was beating faster than usual; he could feel it.

He balled his hands to fists…

Once again, he had been deemed "unworthy" of getting the whole picture of the situation he was in. He should have been used to that by now, but the difference was that this time, it hadn't been some old man of incredible holiness (or something along those lines), who denied him that knowledge, but, in a certain way, he himself…

...Toki…

…He fought with Toki.

Even now, that they knew about… how low could you sink? This was… pathetic.

He was feeling pathetic.

It wasn't too long, before Niko passed by whistling:

"Huh?"

He noticed Link standing at the door and stopped:

"Ha? Oy, Swabby… what are you doing here?"

"Just standing…", Link answered.

"Aha…"

"Niko…?"

"Oh… yes?"

Link looked up from the ground and at Niko, who took notice of the fact, that the kid's eyes were a tiny little bit wet… Did something happen?

„…I know, this is a strange thing to ask, but… could please bring me my sleeping bag up here? It's down in the storage room…"

"Huh? Don't tell me, you're going to sleep here?"

Link nodded.

"Right next to the door?"

Link nodded again.

"Uhm… OK, that's really weird, but if you actually want it… I want to be a good senior to you after all. OK… just wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

Niko went off, but not without turning around to check on Link several times, before he went down the stairs.

And Link turned his head back at the ground again… and sighed:

"And there I was thinking, I was over this kind of behavior… Oh well…"

When this happened, it was already 6 o' clock in the evening. And so dusk came and went and was soon replaced by the dark of night, only lit by the starry sky.

And neither of the boys had moved from their places in all this time.

And Link wondered… how something stupid like this could happen…

* * *

„_What has… happened?"_

„_Link… listen… you have to stay calm now, alright?"_

"_But… I am…Navi, what has happened to me?"_

"_What Rauru said..."_

"_So…Seven years… passed by… just like this…"_

"…_Yes… it seems so…"_

"_My body changed…"_

"_Link…You did just… That's…It's natural, believe me..."_

"_I… I never knew about this…"_

"_It… It is not bad that this happened! You know, Link… the body of an adult is much more durable than that of a child! Like this, you'll surely be able to handle your enemies easily! You will—"_

"…"

"_Link…?"_

"…_Hyrule changed as well…"_

"…_Link…"_

_Couldn't find words to say. _

"…_Why me, Navi?"_

"…_I… I think that's destiny…"_

"_Destiny is cruel…"_

"…"

"_Navi… Help me… What has happened… I don't understand anything anymore… What is going on…"_

_

* * *

_

_-I just want to know…_

_

* * *

_

"_What is going on?!"_

"_I will tell you about everything, once…"_

"_NO!!"_

_Sword of sapphire handle, smacked to the ground._

"_I want to know what is going on NOW! I want an explanation!!"_

"_Link, trust me, you will understand it, when all is done and over. But now you have to keep going on, not worrying about-"_

"_Why?! Why won't you tell me, what is happening?! Don't I deserve it? From the very beginning, all I did was listening to you and proceed, listening to you and proceed… but I never got what I was actually doing! Collecting those pearls and placing them… Absolving this tower… This large building under the ocean…"_

"_Link…"_

"_I want to understand! I really want to! Why won't you let me?! I HATE THIS!"_

"_It is… complicated—"_

"_What is complicated?!"_

"…"

"_In Jabun's cave… you and him were talking about me, weren't you?"_

"…"

"_What… What has this all to do with me? Why… Why me?"_

"…_I don't know."_

"_What?"_

"_I don't even know if it has to do anything with you at all."_

"_Then again: Why me?!"_

"…"

"…_I'm doing this all for Aryll. But you are giving me the feeling, that you're using me for something else as well! Something that I don't know! But… But I want to know, what I am doing! And I swear… if it wasn't for my sister, I would stop doing this right now, until you give me an explanation!! If it wasn't for her, I'd…"_

_

* * *

_

"_I'd just quit if it wasn't for them! You are aware of this, aren't you?"_

"_Why, yes, sure I am aware of that. But, unluckily for you, it is for them, which means I get to keep you a little longer! Hee Hee!"_

"_You make me sick, you know that?"_

"_I do what I can~!"_

"…_What do you even need them for?"_

"_Huh? What was that?"_

"_What do you need those things from the sanctuaries for?"_

"_Stuff. Important stuff. Not your business. Now, be a good boy and stop making that face at me."_

"…_At least let me know what is happening here."_

"_You've already been told."_

"_I still don't understand, why it has to be me..."_

"_Oh boy…Forget it. Repeating expositions for you, just because you are too lazy to listen to them is not my job!"_

"_I know. All you ever do is commanding me around. You awful…"_

"_Ahh, is that how you treat the one who saved you from imprisonment?"_

"_I hate you."_

"_Well, I can live with that."_

_

* * *

_

_- No explanation. Again._

_

* * *

_

_---Note_

_This chapter is English-version exclusive. Except for the bit in the beginning, it wasn't there in the german version. I added it in order to balance out the plot development a bit, since it was focusing too heavily on the chapters before, during, and immediately after the Water Temple, so I spread two plot points a little better. _

_I also noticed that OoT Link too accepting of TWW Link wanting to know everything that was going on in his head in the german version, which is why I changed it. They are children and not Buddhist guru's, for goddess' sake. _

_Oh, also, keep TWW Link's behavior in this chapter in mind… will come up much, much later again (like, a year later or so, of my pace of translating decreases again. XD_

_The last part… I guess it should be obvious where all of it stems from…_

_Peter Pan Age-up Trauma FTW!!! O.O_


	23. Aryll's Fairy

Chapter 22:

Aryll's Fairy

In view…

Outset Island came into view, as the red morning sun's light reflected into smooth waves…

Toki stood by the reeling and sighed.

…This dream…

Why did he see this? …But at least, now he understood…

Understood why…

The sound of the opening door caused Toki to look up from the water. He slowly turned around.

"Hey…"

The other boy was standing in the doorway to the under deck, looking at the ground.

"Good morning…" he said.

Toki looked away as well:

"Good… morning…"

Slowly, Kaze started to walk up to the other boy. In his hand, he was holding a wooden bowl. When he arrived right before Toki, he put it down to the ground.

"…I thought you might be hungry… I brought you breakfast…"

"Ah… yeah… Thank you."

"…"

They remained in silence for some more moments…

"..Hey…", finally Toki said something. Kaze carefully looked in his direction, as he started talking:

"…because of what happened yesterday evening… I… I'm sorry."

He sighed:

"What I said… actually, I didn't mean to hurt you…but I did… that was stupid of me…"

"No…"

Kaze shook his head slowly:

"You had every right to act like you did. How I behaved… was awful. I just totally overreacted. And I shouldn't have shouted at you like this..."

Finally, he looked straight at Toki, and smiled a little:

"I'm the one, who should be apologizing… I was a jerk, right?"

"…Not really." Toki replied, while shaking his head: "No, actually, you were right with what you said… We are in this together and should trust each other. Otherwise, we will never figure out what is actually happening here. So…"

Toki closed his eyes:

"…What… what I was thinking about yesterday evening… it's just that I reali—"

"You don't need to tell me."

"Huh?"

As Toki looked up at him, Kaze said:

"…You were right too. Your thoughts belong to you… and just because of-… I have no right to force you to tell you anything that's on your mind… And it's not, like you had anything else left besides them, right?"

"Kaze…"

For some reason looking, like he was ashamed of something, Kaze turned away a little:

"Anything you knew is gone… and almost everyone you knew is dead. Plus, you can't even move from my side…"

Kaze turned back towards Toki again and put on that decent smile again:

"I think I should at least leave you your thoughts… So, if you're uncomfortable telling me, no matter what it actually may be… just let it be… "

Even though he tried to hide this, Toki was obviously very relieved about this statement. He returned Kaze's smile:

"Thank you."

"So… we're still friends?" Kaze asked somewhat shyly.

Toki grinned:

"Of course. Why shouldn't we be?"

"Hehehe…"

"Well… Now for breakfast!"

Somewhat in excitement, Toki turned towards the bowl and picked it up-

But, much to his dismay, what he saw didn't exactly look… well…

"…What is _this…?"_ Toki asked baffled, starring at the brownish slime, made out off- It was impossible to tell what it was made off, actually.

Kaze sighed: "Sorry. We forgot to restock on Dragon Roost and the men plundered our last reserves yesterday evening at dinner time. This is all we still got left."

He looked down at the contents of the bowl, frowning a little himself:

"I ate it once before… It's… only… _almost_ as bad as it looks. Believe me."

"And it is…?"

"…They call it the Swabby-Ration", Kaze stated.

"Ehm…Why "Swabby-Ration?"

Wordless, Kaze looked down at the bowl, just like Toki… when suddenly, a bubble emerged out of the slime-like substance and popped right on the surface in a rather unsettling way. Finally, Kaze opened his mouth again:

"…Because I am the only one who ever had the guts to eat it, I guess…I never really saw anyone else…Uhm…"

"Uagh…"

"Guts or not, I won't eat anything that looks more alive than some of the monsters I fought yet."

Disgusted, Toki put the bowl aside:

"Still, thanks…"

"But it's all we got." Kaze stated somewhat worried "What will you eat then?"

Toki just crossed his arms:

"I can wait. I won't starve from one missing meal. Besides..."

He pointed out to the sea:

"It can't take too long till we reach Outset again. Didn't you say something about your Grandma being a great cook?"

"Wait… Outset?!"

Kaze ran over to the reeling and leaned over it, starring out to the Outlines of the Island in the distance, slowly coming closer:

"We're almost there!" he realized in surprise.

"Uhm, yeah." Toki nodded "When I woke up, it was already starting to come into view…"

"B-But Niko told me we had headwind the whole ni—"

"Heheheheheh…"

Niko's voice.

Kaze turned around furiously and faced the laughing, little pirate, standing behind him:

"Niko!"

"Hahahahahaha! ", Niko was holding his stomach of laughter: "You totally fell for it, Swabby!"

Link grunted angrily:

"You only wanted to make me eat that stuff again?!"

"Yeah! Wanted to see that priceless look on your face again… And it worked!"

"UAGH!"

The boy looked like he was about to smack Niko, but he finally decided that it was better to let it be. Instead, he took on an expression that made him look like he was feeling very sick:

"Now I actually ate that… UGH…"

"Why didn't you just wait too anyway?" Toki asked as Kaze, once again sighed:

"After my mediocre performance in the last temple, I thought we would need any last bit of energy we can get and couldn't afford to miss out on breakfast… So I just closed my eyes and shoved the stuff down, when Niko brought it."

"Oh…"

"But now… Uhh…. I so~ need some of Grandma's soup now, seriously!"

"Heh." Toki smiled "That shouldn't be a problem…"

He turned towards the reeling again and looked over to the approaching Island:

"Look how fast we are moving…"

"Yeah… It won't take much more than an hour till we arrive… Heheh."

A somewhat dreamy look appeared on Kaze's face:

"Home once again… I didn't think I'd return so soon. I wonder what Grandma will say once she realizes that I'm already back! Ah… Hey!! Zuko!!"

He shouted up to Zuko, who was standing in the crow's nest, observing everything around the ship. He immediately turned towards the boy, when he heard Link's voice.

"Mind if I come up?! I want to use my telescope up there!"

Slightly surprised, Zuko just shrugged, as Link was already running towards the mast and started climbing up it.

Toki looked after him, grinning.

"Ah, I don't get that kid."

When he heard a man's voice, Toki turned to the left and saw one of the pirates standing at the reeling as well, not too far from him…

The muscular one… hm… "Gonzo", wasn't it?

"Every time we get any close to that Island, he starts acting like this. Even though he's spent more than a year on our ship now. But he still behaves like he was living there, yeah? I wonder what's so special about that rock with, like, a handful people on it, that he's so darn attached to it…"

"That's because it's only special for him."

"Hm?"

Gonzo turned to the side when he realized that the boy standing there was talking to him… he listened, as Toki, gazing out to the sea, continued:

"It is probably hard to understand for you and the others, since, from what I gathered; you spent all your life seafaring… But your Link lived on this island of a very long. Even if this isn't the case now anymore, Outset Island is where he spent most of his life up till now. It's not as much about the place itself though, than the memories he connects to it. Where the friends and family he spent this time with were and still are. That's why, even though he is living on this ship now, he is still calling Outset Island his home. And it will probably take a very long time until he'll start calling this ship "home" instead. Because his heart is still bound to that island after all…"

"You…are quite smart for such a little kid…" Gonzo stated in amazement.

Toki turned to Gonzo and shook his head:

"This has nothing to do with "smart". It's just that I…" He closed his eyes and turned towards the sea again: "I know how hard it is to stop being attached to a certain place…"

The other Link's voice from up on the crow's nest caused them both to turn around.

"Hey! I can see the seagulls flocking! "

Kaze was holding the telescope to his eye and leaned dangerously far out of the crow's nest:

"That means Aryll is outside! Do you think she'll be surprised to see me coming back?"

"In any case, she'll be happy!" Toki shouted up with a grin and got a loud laughter for a reply.

"Hahaha!"

"Ahh…"

Gonzo shock his head:

"You two kids are weird sometimes, yeah?...Anyway, get your stuff ready. We'll arrive in a few minutes."

Toki nodded:  
„Alright. "

As Gonzo walked away, Toki smiled. He got out his Ocarina… and started playing the Minuet of the Forest.

_I never forgot them…_

He thought by himself

_You certainly won't just forget about your people either, right?_

_-~-_

They docked without even the slightest problem. Even so, saying that they attracted the Islanders attention would have been a horrible understatement. Literally everybody's eyes were on the large ship, as it came to a halt close to the Island's shore.

"Hey, isn't that the ship of Link's little friend?"

"But they just set out again a few days ago! They can't already be back."

"Oh my, I hope nothing bad happened!"

"They're all worried again…" Kaze sighed, as he and Toki left the ship.

Why was everybody always so worried about him? Especially his poor, old Grandma…

He didn't want them to be worried because of him. Also, there was no need to. He could take care of himself and they should know this. He just hoped that Grandma wasn't too-

-Oh, speak of the devil…

"Link!!"

With an incredible speed for her old age, Link's grandmother was already running down to the dock, quickly taking both of her grandchild's hands, as soon as she reached him:

"Oh, Link, my little boy, why are you already back again? Did something happen?! Were you attacked? Oh, you must be very tired, my poor Link, come, we'll go home now, so you can rest a little bit and…"

"Grandma, I'm alright, really!" he quickly stated, in order to stop her excitement. "There was just a… change in plan…"

He was trying hard to sound calming, but still got a confused look from his Grandma:

"…Change in plan…?"

"Grandma…Uhm…"

How was he supposed to ask this?

„…Do you know anything about an old temple or shrine, which should have an entrance somewhere on this island? "

"Link… what happened?"

"It's hard to explain…"

"Big Brother!"

It was Aryll, who now came run down the dock, leaping at Link as soon as she was close enough. Naturally, Link hugged her right away:

"Hallo Aryll!"

"You're back again!! That's great! Hee hee! "

She then noticed Toki standing behind him:  
"Oh, the other Link's there as well! Hee~llo!!"

She waved at him, despite the distance between them being barely 3 meters, but regardless, Toki just smiled and waved back.

Aryll turned towards her brother again:

"So~… did you bring me a present?!"

_Present_

"Ehhh…"

"Huh? Big brother is something wrong?"

Kaze remembered… he actually promised Aryll to bring her a present the next time he comes back, didn't he? But he had nothing for her…he didn't even have all of his own stuff anymore…

Shock. What should he do now? Just tell her that he forgot?...

"Uhm… Aryll, look… I'm sorry, but we actually didn't think, we'd actually… ehm…"

"HEY! Ugh… Could… use… a little help over here!!! Please, please, please!!! "

Everybody turned around.

Eyne was floating out of the ship, clutching Medli's spell crystal in her hands. Much too large and too heavy for her, the crystal literally dragged the fairy down, down, down (she was flying lower and lower with every passing second), yet she was trying her best not to let go of it.

"Ah! Sorry Eyne, I didn't think of the crystal!"

"You should… have!...UGH!"

Kaze wanted to go over and help Eyne, but that when Aryll suddenly jumped and ran right past him, towards the fairy. She fixated her eyes on the crystal:

"Aww! How pretty! "

Aryll jumped, snatched the crystal out of the air and continued to look at it.

"Ah… Sweet relieve…" Eyne sighed, rid of the weight of the heavy object.

Meanwhile, Aryll held the Crystal up above her head and looked at it:

"Hey! I got a pretty crystal!!"

"Uhm, isn't that my line…?"

"And it shines in the sun like a star! Hee Hee!"

Aryll took the crystal down again and turned towards her brother:

"Link, you are the best big brother in the whole wide world! This is the prettiest present ever!!"

"Uhm… WHAT?!"  
„Hee Hee Hee! "

Aryll quickly ran off to their house, just like she was aware that this crystal was, in fact, _not _her present.

"Oh no!!"

Dumbfounded, Kaze watched her "escape" with the spell crystal. He gasped. Aryll with a possibly powerful magical spell of unknown origin in her hands, completely unaware of what she's playing with—No, No, No!

His poor grandmother understood nothing anymore:

"…Link? What did Aryll just take with her back to the hou—"

"ARYLL! STOP!!"

His panicking voice wasn't exactly making her feel better.

Kaze grabbed Toki's arm:

„Don't just stand there!!! COM'ON!!!"

„WOAH!! "

Dragging the other boy after him, Kaze dashed towards his family's house, swung open the door and looked around:

"Aryll?!"

"Ouououououou…." Toki commented. His right arm (the one Kaze had taken) felt like gum… Kaze ignored him:

"ARYLL!! Come here, please!! "

Finally, the little girl's voice answered:

"Heheh! No~, you come up here, Link! Hee hee! "

The voice was coming from the attic… What?

Since when did Aryll have the key? Grandma always locked the door!

"Aryll, stop, wait!!" Kaze shouted, as he climbed up the stairs, skipping every second step.

Really: The door to the attic was wide open. Did their grandma forget to close it?

Grandma never let them enter the attic. She would always say that it was unsafe, because of being stuffed to the ceiling with boxes and all kinds of other stuff… Now Link felt even more unsettled because of Aryll.

Still dragging poor Toki after him (who didn't even have a chance to get his arm free, because Kaze, for some reason, suddenly seemed to have developed superhuman strength or something along that lines), he quickly ran through the door and was greeted by a thick cloud of dust. Both of the sneezed a few times, before the dust cloud finally disappeared again and revealed Aryll behind it, playing with the crystal in the sunlight, which was coming though the only window in the room. The crystal was starting sparkle it…

"Yikes!" was Kaze's only reaction to this and Toki too was gulping. "Oh Oh…"

"Hee Hee Hee!" Blissfully, Aryll smiled at the sight of shining crystal: "Look big brother, letters appeared in there just now! That's weird, huh?"

Kaze was sweating heavily, when he took one step forward:

„Aryll, that's not a toy! Give it back, please!!"

Aryll ignored him.

"Hm… Kulula… no… Kurulo… Uhm…"

"Aryll!" Link repeated, becoming more and more nervous: „I'm talking to you!"

"Ah!"

Link's little sister cheerfully raised the crystal up into the air, causing the light of the sun to gather in its core…

"I got it!! ", she laughed „It's… _KURURINPA!!"_

The very moment Aryll said this, the crystal suddenly started wildly radiating in a bright light, covering Aryll's surroundings in a shining aura. The light finally focused in the crystal's core and shot a single, massive beam out of it…

…Right into Kaze's direction.

"WHAAAAAH!!"

The beam hit him and covered his whole body in the strange light, as he heard a scream of terror from Eyne and a loud gasp from Toki.

_Goddesses, what's going to happen to me now?! _ He thought in panic. They had no idea what this spell actually did!! Something was happening to his body, he could feel it, but he could not tell what. He couldn't see either, because that cursed light was still so incredibly bright that is dazzled him as soon as he even tried to open his eyes.

Finally, the light started to fade…

"GAH!" he heard Toki exclaiming.

'Gah'?

This couldn't mean anything good.

He had to see what happened to him, damn! If he's transformed into something, he should at least know, into what.

Kaze got mentally ready, raised both of his hands up before his face, took a deep breath and opened his eyes…

…

Relieve. Normal, human hands. And the sleeves of a green shirt…

"Whew…" he sighed.

…

That's when he started to hear giggling… Toki's voice was giggling.

"Hey?... What's so funn- HUH! "

That was when Kaze noticed, that something was _wrong. _He slapped both of his hands over his mouth.

His voice.

His voice was too high. _At least 3 whole freaking pitches to high!..._

And…

Now that he didn't look at his hands alone anymore, he noticed that his surroundings were covered in green shine. A kind of glow… Wait.

Was that green light coming from… him?!?!

Kaze tried to turn around by stepping backwards and that was when he realized that he couldn't do it like that. Because _his feet weren't touching the ground. _

He was floating. _Floating in the air. _

…Wait. How could that work?! They were on the attic! The attic was barely 1.5 meters hi—

Correction. It _used_ to be only 1.5 meters high.

Now, however, Kaze found himself in a seemingly gigantic wooden building, with the ceiling being at least 20 meters above his head.

"W-What is going on?!" he gasped. "What happened to me? Where am I and…"

"Heheheh…"

The more nervous Kaze's re-pitched voice became, the louder became the giggling of Toki's voice, which caused Kaze to furiously move his head to the side in order to make his friend shut up—

What he saw _beyond _startled him.

"WHAHH!!"

There was an at least 10 meters tall giant right beside him.

Somehow, he managed to _trip over his own feet in midair, _which caused Toki to lose even his last bit of self-restrain and burst into loud laughter.

The other, now very, very tiny Link, desperately tried to move away from his spot, but swinging his legs didn't do a thing. He just remained hanging in the very same place.

Aryll (now about 7 meters tall), smiled cheerfully:

"Aww!! Big brother, you are cuuu~te!! Can I keep you? Can I, can I?"

In the meantime, Toki was dying… of laughter:

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! OH GODDESSES, THIS IS PRICELESS, JUST PRICELESS! PICTOBOX!! QUICK, SOMEBODY'S GOTTA TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS!!!!"

"_Screw _the Pictobox, I want a Mirror!!!" Kaze screamed in anger with this high, squeaky voice.

"Uhm…"

That was Eyne's voice. Link somehow managed to turn around by swinging his arms, so he could face her.

Before him was now a (for his eyes) normal-sized girl, about 14 or 15 years old, surrounded by a dark blue shine…

"You… are sure you want to see that?" she carefully asked.

"YES I am!!" he shouted.

"Uhm… well, alright."

After shrugging for a moment, she took his hand and dragged him over to a dusty mirror, which she then cleaned by blowing at it…

"Huh?"

Toki, in the background watched… his eyes slanted. Eyne's breath was strong enough to free the mirror of all the thick layer of dust that was covering its glass…

Kaze just starred.

Well, he already expected to see this picture, because the evidence was kinda obvious, but still, he just _starred_:

His body was still looking pretty much the same as before (if not a little leaner and somewhat more fragile-looking) and his clothes hadn't changed at all. No, what really changed was his size: He shrunk down to roughly 1/20 of it. Also, his whole body was emitting a bright, green light… A light that was, for some reason, not hurting his eyes, despite being very bright.

But also, and much more importantly:

He had wings.

2 large (larger than his body at least) pairs of dragonfly-like wings were growing out of his back and fluttering without a break.

…

WHY DIDN'T HE NOTICE THOSE?!?!

"Oh… great….goddess…"

Link felt the weird urge to smack himself, just to make sure that he wasn't dreaming- no, couldn't be, the only kind of dream he was having was involving Princesses and Sages. …and fairies too.

BUT NOT LIKE THIS!!

"T-This can't be! I'm… I'm a… f-fa—"

"A fairy. Yes. ", Eyne stated, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

And this was the moment when Kaze's consciousness finally finished classifying the current events as "real" and gave the rest of his brain the permission to completely and utterly freak out.

"AHHHHHHHHHH! "

He tried to move away from the mirror, but the wings wouldn't follow his will and he ended up just spinning around his own axis.

"I… I CAN'T be a fairy!! I don't want to spend the rest of my life circling fountains!! Undo this!! UNDO THIS!!!" he insisted

Aryll, however, just grinned at the crystal:

"Hey, that looks like fun! Let me try too!"

"Wait! You can't!! ", Eyne held her back „Being the one who cast the spell, you are the only one who can undo it! We cannot risk you becoming unable to do this!"

"Why? Can't fairies cast spells? "

„No, but this one is… weird! You could read the spell, but I didn't see anything in there, when I searched! Nothing, Nothing, Nothing!!"

"Aww! That's not fair!" Aryll looked disappointed „My big brother can fly now, but I am not allowed to?"

„That would be a whole different story if I actually COULD fly!!", Kaze exclaimed, while he was still trying to find some balance again, but he was absolutely unable to control his wings and ended up looking like little, green, drunk firefly.

"H-H-HELP!!"

"Eh… here…"

Toki stopped Kaze's endless spinning with one of his fingers and let him climb unto it, allowing him to finally have some kind of security in his movement again…

While doing so, Toki's cheeks, however, expanded like those of an angry puffer fish, making it obvious that he was on the verge to bursting into laughter again. Kaze threw his Ocarina-wielding friend an angry glare, which caused his light to momentarily become bright red and his wings to flutter even faster.

There was nothing funny about this, damn!

Meanwhile, Eyne had taken a look at Medli's crystal again. Her eyes grew wide:

"Ah! Now I get this! This crystal was designed to only work for Hylians. That's why I was unable to find out anything about the spell! It only unlocked it when your sister touched it."

"And… what exactly… is this spell… called?... Heheheh…" Toki asked, still obviously amused.

Kaze was struggling to move upwards the other boy's arm (without his rapidly flapping wings pulling him away), in order to reach his shoulder. When he finally did, he clung to Toki's tunic with all his might and tried to tell those darn wings to _stop flapping._ Finally, he managed to make them come to a halt, even though they still continued to twitch every other second. Still not letting go of the other boy's tunic, Kaze sat down on his shoulder and sighed.

"A spell, that used to be called "Yousei", but is simply called "Fairy" those days." Eyne explained. "It, well… turns a Hylian into a fairy. Yeah…"

„P-Permanently?! ", Kaze stuttered.

Eyne smiled and shook her head:

"No, like I said before, the one who casts the spell can also undo it, as long as he or she's still Hylian. Also, the one in this crystal seems rather weak to me. It shouldn't last any longer than 30 minutes, I think…"

"That's 30 minutes too long for my taste!!" Kaze stated nervously. He gave his sister a puppy-dog kind of look: "Turn me back to normal, Aryll, please!!"

"But… you are so~o cute like this!!" she said.

"PLEASE!!"

"Oh well…"

She seemed disappointed. With a sigh, Aryll took the crystal again:

"Now, how do I undo this…? Uhm…"

"The crystal showed you letter, right?" Eyne asked "You have to read those backwards, in order to undo the spell!"

Aryll sighed again:

"Alright…"

She raised the crystal again:

"Panriruku."

Another beam of light shot out of the crystal and hit Kaze once again.

Approximately 5 seconds later, one could her Toki shout: "OUTCH!"

Kaze, still sitting on his shoulder, had suddenly grown back to his usual size…

The sudden gain in weight tore Toki down to the ground.

And both of the Great Heroes of the Goddesses… were now lying there like a collapsed cardboard-construction.

"Uhh… finally that's over."

"OUTCH!" Toki repeated „My back!! You are sitting on my back!!"

"Well, now we are even!" Kaze crossed his arms "That's for laughing at me before!"

"I didn't mean to, really! I did it out of reflex… OU! Please, get of me, pleeease!!"

Kaze jumped up, back unto his feet (obviously glad about having solid ground under them again), so Toki could get up again as well.

The un-transformed one was still standing pretty unsteady on his two feet:

"If I might make something public… I _HATE_ THIS SPELL!!"

He tried to find his usual balance again:

"That's, by far, the most useless item I've ever gotten in my life! And I got the Tingle Tuner!!"

"…What's that?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Oh."

Kaze took a deep breath and continued ranting:

"Seriously, I mean: Who in the world thought it would be a good idea to transform yourself into a helpless, weak, useless fa---"

Eyne came into his view and he abruptly stopped midsentence.

"Oh!"

As Eyne turned away with an shy look in her face, Kaze quickly raised both of his arms and tried to take everything back:

"A-I didn't mean it like this! I like fairies, really, I do, I just don't want to be one, I…"

"It's alright…" Eyne stated unusually calm „I mean, it's true, isn't it? "

She put on an obviously fake smile:

"Fairies are weak, defenseless and good for nothing except healing, right? Well, such is life…"

"Not true. "

„Huh? "

Eyne turned around and faced Toki, who gave her a weird look:

"I don't think that fairies are useless." he said "Some of my best friends were… and are fairies."

_Are…_

_So he is still thinking that his fairy is alive… _ Kaze guessed.

"Fairies are people like everybody else." Toki added. "Why should we judge them by their use? That would be… cruel."

"I would love to be a fairy!" Aryll suddenly stated cheerfully "Because fairies are cute! And…they can fly, like birds! …I so want to fly!!"

"Heheh.", Kaze smiled, when he saw Aryll laughing and Eyne looking at her puzzled. "Aryll has been dreaming of flying forever, you know."

"Yes!" Aryll confirmed "…And yet, you still don't let me play with that leaf you got!"

"Aryll, the Deku-Leaf is not a toy either. You could get hurt."

"It's still unfair! Hm!"

Aryll looked up to the window and smiled again:

"…But nobody can tell a bird or a fairy, that flying was too dangerous for it! You know…"

She turned toward Eyne:

„I'm a little jealous of you!! "

„Jealous… of me…? "

„Also, you are pretty! "

Eyne almost blushed. It seemed like nobody ever made her that kind of compliment before… even if it was coming from an eight-years-old…

"Every being is special in its own way." Toki suddenly stated "They all have their special abilities and traits, that make them unique. And a very own beauty. Fairies are no exception. "

Kaze nodded:

„…OK, I admit, I would not like to be one myself, but that's just because I failed at flying so badly… Heh…"

He blushed in embarrassment:

"Really, I have respect for what you fairies do… I don't know how I would have ever accomplished anything without help of your kind!"

"Ah… the flying just needs practice…" Eyne stated "That's… all… yeah…"

She looked away:

"You are Hylians…"

"Uhm, yeah, obviously." Kaze stated.

"…Yet you say, that you have respect for the fairies?"

The boys nodded, like it was the most natural thing in the world to nod to this question.

"…"

Eyne said nothing…

For some reason, she didn't seem… happy about this statement.

"…Is something wrong?" Kaze asked "…I mean, I really didn't want to offend you!"

"That's not it…" Eyne answered. He voice was unusually calm: "Guys… It's just that I… the truth is that I am…"

"Aryll?! Link?! "

This was, when the atmosphere was broken. Their grandma was standing in the door. And she looked somewhat frightened:

"Children! How many times did I tell you, not to play on the attic?!"

"But the door was open, Grandma!" Aryll said "I thought it's OK if you unlocked the door!"

"No Aryll, it is not OK!" the old woman said "It's dangerous, dear!... Link, I'm disappointed of you! I thought you were responsible enough and knew better than to let Aryll play up here!"

"W-What? No, I was just trying to get Aryll out of here, really!" he quickly defended himself "I only took so long, because…"

"Hey, what books are those?"

Toki had walked over to the shelves and was now looking at the books them.

Grandmother looked somewhat startled:

"Oh! Those are…"

She stopped for a moment:

"Family heirlooms… but nothing important…"

"Wait… Those are written in our language!!"

Toki blew the dust of one of the books:

"Hey, Kaze, look at this: The legends of Hyrule!"

"Let me see!"

Kaze ran over and took a look at the, for him, unreadable writing.

Pictures were illustrating the stories, making it possible for him to figure out what they were about. And some of it seemed familiar to him:

"Hey… isn't that your Ocarina?"

Toki nodded:

"And the girl holding it is Zelda… "

"Huh…"

Kaze looked closer:

"Hey, if you look at it a little longer, she does really look like Tetra! Amazing…"

„This must have been written long after—Uhm…"

He quickly flicked on through the pages:

"…Huh!"

"What… huh!"

Both of the boys were startled when they saw the illustration…

"The… flood…" Kaze whispered.

They looked at the picture, which showed nothing, but the people praying to the gods, while waves devoured their homes property… and friends…

When was this book written? And why did his Grandma have it?

"Ugh…"

As Toki read the text next to the picture, he twitched

_The hero did not appear._

He quickly browsed on to the pages. Everything but this picture… everything but…

"Huh?"

The boys noticed yet another illustration… three women, surrounded by fire, ice, leaves and wind…

And in the middle the Triforce… and the Ocarina of Time…

Toki started reading:

""Nayru", Order, Truth and Wisdom… "Din", Passion, Power and Benevolence… "Farore", Life, Hope and Courage… United are their powers within the holy triangle, the…"

"The Triforce…" Kaze said.

"…And called on by song… in the time of final despair…" Toki continued reading… then, he looked up from the book:

"This was written _while _the flood! Somebody wanted to preserve Hyrule's legends with this!"

"But… But why do _we_ have this?!"

Kaze turned around in confusion:

"Grandma?"

"It's enough, children."

Link's grandma came up to the boys. She took the book out of Toki's hands and closed it:

"This is very old. Older than my… older than my mother's grandmother…"

"Grandma…?"

The old woman looked at her children… as she put on a smile again suddenly:

"Children… why won't you come downstairs? I made some soup for you…"

In silence, the book under her arm, she left the attic and went down the stairs. Puzzled, the boys, Aryll and Eyne followed her.

What was wrong?

_---Note_

_And thus I present you… My SECOND WEIRDEST idea, after the great drinking incident! XD_

_Believe it or not, that spell EXISTS!_

"_ZeldaII: The Adventure of Link", anyone?_

_TWW Link is a ready victim for slapstick of all kind, so this spell just SCREAMED for being (ab)used on him! ^^ _

_Fairy Link is cute! Which is why I drew fanart of him! Lots of it! XD (But barely uploaded any of it...)_

_Hm… pitching up Link's voice three pitches… Gotta try this!_

_*gets out Magix Music Maker and some voice-samples from TWW* _

_*listening*_

…_.O.o_

_God… Attack of the Chipmunk Fairy!! XD_

_But it's still cu~te!! ^^ *unleash inner fangirl*_

_Just as in the German version, I dedicate this chapter to the Hyrulean geography, because the fact that Outset Island and Lake Hylia are about the same location allowed me to write this without making up some stupid excuse. XD_

_I guess it's getting more and more obvious that Eyne is… weird. _

_Come on, I want to hear you guess around wildly!! ^^_

_I finally gave the past 18 chapters to my beta reader… ^^; Once she finished correcting this huge mass of text, I'll let her correct this chapter and any other eventual new chapter…_

_But I'm too impatient to wait with uploading until she's finished. XD Sorry. ^^;_


	24. Tag, Catch, Save

Chapter 23:

Tag, Catch, Save

A delicious aroma was in the air when they came downstairs, into the kitchen.

"Sit down children and eat as long as it's still warm." Grandma told them softly and pointed at the table, where 3 wooden bowls had already been prepared. She then went over and started filling the bowls with the soup from her large pot, one after another.

Usually, Kaze would have stormed the table and started eating right away, but now, he just stood there and starred into the air.

_Why do we have that book…?_

The question wouldn't leave his mind. Grandma knew about Tetra's heritage… if they really had artifacts from ancient Hyrule, why did she never tell her? More importantly… Why didn't she tell him? And why didn't she want them to read in it? He just didn't understand…

Was Grandma worrying about something? As if he wasn't already giving her way too many causes to worry anyway…

"Link?"

"Huh—Yes?"

Link looked at his Grandmother, who smiled at him:

"Won't you sit down?"

"What--- Oh!"

He then noticed that Aril and Toki had already taken their places at the table. Quickly he hurried over to them and sat down as well, as Grandma continued talking:

"I talked to your friend in the blue jacket. Who came with you and your friend Tetra's men…"

"Blue jacket-- Linebeck?"

She nodded:

"He told me, why the little Tetra isn't with you. And what you are searching for and why… The 6 temples of the ancient land, is that right?"

Kaze nodded, even if he didn't quite understand where this was supposed to go. He was waiting for Grandma to go on, when she gave him a worried look:

"Link… are you feeling well?"

"Yes. Why?"

"You still haven't touched your soup…"

"-Oh!"

Kaze noticed that everyone except him had already started eating. How embarrassing… this was his favorite food. By this time, he would usually already be refilling. Especially after the kind of breakfast he had today—

Merely remembering this caused Kaze to quickly pick up a spoon and start eating hastily. Luckily, it was still warm.

Ah… Grandma's soup. The taste alone made him forget that he was worrying just a second ago. Hmmm… There was just no way to deny that his Grandma was the best Soup-chef in the world, period.

This on mind, Kaze took a quick glance towards Toki. And smiled satisfied. Toki's face made it obvious that he now finally understood what Kaze loved so much about this dish.

Grandma picked up from where she left of:

"So… you actually visited the temples of the sunken kingdom? They still exist?"

"Yesh! Shey bo… Uhm…"

The boy quickly swallowed, when he realized that the soup rendered him almost unintelligible. He then continued:

"We where at the Forest temple and the Fire temple! And it was very exciting… Without his help, I wouldn't have gotten through them that easily!"

He pointed at Toki, who just shrugged:

"Well, I absolved all of the old Hyrule's temples before, so it was hardly a challenge for me, since I already knew about all the traps and stuff…"

"So it really is true. You actually _are_ the legendary hero…."

Her eyes rested on Toki, who quickly swallowed another sip of soup, before he gave her a skeptical look:

"Of course I am. Just like I said before. "

"Ah? Grandma, don't tell me, you didn't believe us!" Kaze added, sounding somewhat upset.

His Grandma just laughed:

"No, not really… children, you must understand, I've already seen so many boys your age wearing those clothes, so it's hardly anything special for me anymore. I've also sewn quite a few of those tunics yet… like, for example…"  
She went over to the drawer, opened it and got something out: A Pictograph Album. She started browsing through the pages.

"…Ah! There it is…"  
She picked out a certain picture and showed a young boy in a green tunic, wearing a green cap. He was posing with a wooden sword, grinning proudly.

"Hey… he does look like you!" Kaze stated in surprise.

Toki just starred, as his jaw dropped. The boy on the picture resembled them both, but the one obvious difference between them, the shade of the hair color, looked more like his than Kaze's. Actually, the boy's hair was even darker than Toki's. The striking thing was that his hair parted exactly in the middle, which made him resemble Toki more than Kaze. Even if this was probably the only reason, it was very noticeable. The tunic was a little different from both of their tunics, but that was beside the point.

"…So much for "bleached by salt"…",Toki finally brought out.

Seemingly, the lighter shade of Kaze's hair was actually natural, or this boy on the picture (whose identity Toki could guess by now), wouldn't have darker hair then him.

Grandma laughed: "Yes, this surprised me as well. We always knew that Link took a lot after his father. But when you showed, up I was quite surprised how much you look like him as well. Link inherited his mother's unruly, golden blonde hair, which is the best way to tell him apart from his father on pictographs. But for you, not even this method would probably work. Of course, it is still far from being an identical match, but I find it quite funny how much you look like you could belong to the family."

"My father..."

Was that really him? His father on his twelfth birthday? Kaze looked closely at the photograph … and it became obvious that a longing feeling had taken him over that moment.

Grandma smiled:

"Conis had always been a rather lively boy, so he, naturally, enjoyed his twelfth birthday a lot… But we had to remove the sword from him rather quickly though. He was handling it so badly, that everybody was not only fearing for their, but also for his own safety as long as he was running around with it. Orca finally had to shake him off a tree when he refused to hand it over. Heheheh…"

Kaze pictured a slightly younger Orca chasing down this kid who looked like them, trying to remove the wooden sword from him…

Toki, however, started to smile. There was something incredibly relieved to his expression.

_So… there was no need to worry after all... _

He thought and sighed

_His father looked like me too… this means we are… ah…_

Another, even bigger sigh. And a smile. Then, Toki looked at Kaze's Grandma and asked:

"May I look at this?" he pointed at the album.

Grandma nodded, while Toki started to browse through the pages in interest:  
"Wow… the quality of the pictographs has surely increased in the last 1000 years…"

"Uhm…But that's not the reason why you're looking through the album, right?" Kaze asked slightly confused.

"I'm just interested!" Toki stated "I want to see what your life was like before you started traveling!"

"You find that that interesting?"

"Absolutely!"

Well, if he really wanted, there was surely no harm in having him look at their pictographs…

Kaze too, now looked into the Album, as Toki browsed through it. Most of the pictures he, himself, hadn't seen before yet. There were pictures of everything that was even the least bit memorable:

His parent's marriage, how a baby (which he strongly suspected to be himself) was shown around in the village, his first steps, a few birthday parties, playing at the beach…

"Aww! Big brother you were a cute baby! But still not as cute as you were as a fai—"

"Stop it!" Kaze blushed.

"But you were really adorable!" Aryll stated cheerfully. "You looked very good!"

Her brother wanted t object, but Toki's voice interrupted him, before he could:

"Hey… that's you too, isn't it?"

He was pointing at an especially cute picture, which caused him to stop browsing:

It showed a young couple with two children: One was a boy, sitting on his father's shoulders, seemingly pretending to be riding a horse. The mother was meanwhile holding a baby in her arms. A small flock seagulls was circling around her…

"Aww… this looks so peaceful!" Aryll stated.

"Ah… I remember!" Kaze stated „I think, this was just a few days after your birth…"

He took a few seconds to think:

"Grandma wanted a shot of all of us together. It was only when we actually took the picture that they realized that someone had to, well, take the picture. It was quite funny, because we all were already lined up neatly when that problem came up. Grandma then volunteered. That's why she's not on it. But by the time she actually took the picture, I had already gotten impatient and Dad had to calm me down by playing with me…Heheh…"

Kaze was rather proud that he managed to recall all this… he had been barely 4 years old at that point and his memory had never been the best.

Toki studied the picture closely:

"You look very happy."

"I was happy, because Dad agreed to let me ride on his shoulders. I loved that, I think… Also, I was glad because I finally got a sibling. I hated being an only-child. There were no other children except me on the island at the time and you can't imagine how incredibly boring it can be to have no other children around to play with you!"

"Yeah, I really can't imagine that…"

A hint of envy was in Toki's voice as he said this and Kaze needed a few moments to realize, why:

Of course. This other Link grew up among the Kokiri children…

He never even knew his father or mother. The thing that came closest to a parental figure in their forest was probably this Great Deku Tree…

And now he was sitting here, looking at all those pictures of things that "normal" children do in their "normal" families.

This had to be incredibly frustrating, when you thought about it.

It was weird for Toki to browse through those pictures. Partly because of what Saria told them… According to her, this was a life, which his soul actually experienced, he merely didn't remember it. But how could this all seem so strange to him then? It was a whole different world… playing in the sun and sand and the waves of the ocean… this seemed like a storybook to him.

There were so many pictures of Aryll and her brother playing… Brother and sister… Why did it look so much different from how the Kokiri played with each other? Was it because of the way Aryll's eyes were focused on her older brother in interest and how he would show everything to her, carefully and yet with a smile on his face? Siblings… there was no way to compare siblinghood to friendship; Toki gathered that much from the pictures. Was that what it meant to be a child in a family? He never experienced it from this side… If he just knew what it felt like…

"Hm?"

Kaze looked up… he felt… something.  
An emotion…

Toki…

Something told him, that this was coming from him. He didn't know how and why, but he knew it…

And he was confirmed by a sigh, that Toki suddenly released. Kaze looked at the other boy in sympathy. Kaze at least got to know his parent. He had memories of them, that he could remember whenever he was feeling scared or lonely. Toki, however, never knew his family…

He may have been a hero, but that didn't mean that he wasn't a normal person as well. A person, who never even got to meet his own parents. How sad…

"Bo~ys!!"

Eyne made her presence known once again:

"I know, I know, those pictographs are really pretty and interesting and so, but don't we have different problems right now? Temple-related problems?"

Kaze rolled his eyes. She just ruined a perfectly touching moment. Couldn't they take a break for, like, 20 minutes?

…Was he mistaken or was that fairy getting more and more nervous ever since they finished the Fire temple?

Grandma gave them an asking look:

"A problem?"

Her grandson sighed:

"We got to get into the Water tempel somehow, but according to him, the entrance is probably under one of the cliffs here. We have no idea how we are supposed to dive that deep without drowning.

Toki nodded:

"Well… I got a blue tunic from the Zora… But it's adult-sized and doesn't work correctly when it doesn't fit neatly. And it's only one…"

"Oh! A tunic? Would you care showing it to me for a short moment, boy? "

A puzzled and surprised look appeared on Toki's face and Kaze shared it. What did Grandma want to with the tunic? Finally, they both just shrugged at each other.

"Well…"

Toki got his back and pulled out a blue bundle of cloth:

"…there's no harm in showing, I guess. Here you go."

He handed it over to the old woman, who started to closely examine it right away.

"Hm…"

Her eyes wandered all over the blue tunic and she took a close look on all the stitches. The children watched in interest.

"Well the cut is rather wide and the strings of stitches should be easy to cut with a good pair of scissor… When I cut carefully, I should be able to easily sew two sets of clothes your size out of this!"

The boys jumped up in unison:

"Really?!"

Grandma smiled and nodded:

"But, of course, the original tunic will be lost if I do this… do you mind this?"

Toki shook his head:

"No, not at all, not if it gets us into the temple!"

„Alright then…", she went over to the drawer again, seemingly starting to prepare her tools:

"If I hurry, I should be able to finish the clothes by tomorrow… You just have to wait over night. Is that alright for you, children?"

"Of course! Grandma, you're the best!"

Kaze smiled. He was so relieved, that this problem was already solved now. Now, they didn't have to worry about getting into the temple anymore. Tomorrow, they'd be able to finish this quest.

Tomorrow, they'd finally be able to solve this whole mess…

And he would meet Tetra again….

* * *

Tetra… He wondered if she was worrying as much for him right now, then he was for her? Probably not. And it was good that way. Tetra had never been as nervous as him. And she knew very well what he was capable of... Yeah, she probably was not that afraid that something would happen to him. He had been in worse situations yet and she knew it.

What was she doing right now? Was she still trying to get through the Spirit temple?...

Suddenly, Link felt bad, just sitting here doing nothing. He wanted to take action as well. But until the tunics were finished, they had no choice but to wait…

"Hey, don't make that face!"

"Huh?"

Kaze looked up, when the other boy was smiling at him:

"Come on, relax! We'll need all the energy we can get tomorrow, so don't waste it on non-stop worrying. It will work out in the end, believe me! "

The two of them were sitting on some rocks on the Beach while he said this. They had been outside, playing with Aryll, for some time now.

"Every since lunch, you've done nothing but starring holes into the air." Toki stated "What are you thinking about all the time?"

"Ah… It's just because… well, Tetra…" he sighed "I just hope that she's fine. I know that she's strong, but she also has a talent for getting herself into trouble--- well, actually, we both got this, but…"

He looked down:  
"I just want to be sure that she's alright… I wonder if she already found the sage…"

"I could ask Saria, if you want!"

Toki got out his Ocarina.

Oh yeah! Saria!

The sages were connected to each other, weren't they? Kaze didn't think about that.

"Ah! Yes, please! ", he quickly answered „If you don't mind…"

"Not at all!"

Toki put the Ocarina to his lips:

"OK, Saria's song then…"

With soft, clear sounds, he played the short melody that Kaze had heard a few times yet…

"…

…

Huh?"

Toki put the Ocarina down surprised and examined it, like he was thinking that it might be broken.

"Is something wrong?" Kaze asked.

"Dunno…" Toki answered "But Saria's not answering to me…"

"What? Why? "

Toki started shaking the Ocarina a little bit and listened, if something inside went lose, but everything seemed to be normal:

"I'm calling out to her, but I don't get an answer! Like the connection was interrupted or something…"

"This can happen?" Kaze asked surprised.

"It never did before." Toki answered nervously: "Something is wrong… Saria never failed to answer my calls before! Not even when she was attacked in the Forest temple."

"Maybe… she's too busy to talk?" Kaze considered: "I mean, the Sages are trying hard to keep the situation from get any worse right now. Maybe your friend is casting a spell or something at the moment and can't interrupt to answer to you!"

"It's still weird…"

With an uneasy feeling in his stomach, he put the Ocarina away again:

"I'll try again lat—"

"Gottcha!"  
Toki felt a slight tap on his back and turned around in surprise. Little Aryll was standing behind him and smiled:

"You're "It"!"

"Aryll, what's that about?" Kaze asked somewhat embarrassed for the sudden topic-switch his sister caused.

"We're playing "tag"! ", she answered, actually radiating cheer with her innocent smile: „And he's „It"! "

"I don't know…"

Toki made a face, as he was remembering something:

"The last time somebody wanted to play "tag" with me, it ended in a life-or-death fight against a demonic mask."

"Aww, don't be killjoys!"

Aryll ran around her brother and the other boy:

"Why won't you play "tag" with me? If you don't play with me, I'll play with the pretty crystal again instead!"

The word "crystal" alarmed her brother, who jumped up nervously:

"No way!! If you ever use that thing again, especially on ME, I'll…"

"Gottcha. "

A tap on his right arm…

Kaze turned to the side. Toki was grinning at him:

"You're "It". "

It took him a few moments to realize what just happened…

"H-Hey…"

Meanwhile, his sister and predecessor were already running away, to the other side of the island:

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"HEY!! NO FAIR!! "

Kaze quickly spurted after them, trying to catch up as quickly as possible.

"It doesn't count! That was a Quick start!!" he shouted in anger.

"No, you merely took your sweet time figuring out that we're already playing!" Toki laughed amused.

They climbed up the lookout. Kaze quickly hurried after them. _Ha. That was a stupid move. _He thought. _Up there is practically a dead-end! I so got them._

But when he got to the top of the lookout, he found it to be empty.

"Wha---"

"Hahaha!!"

Flowing the loud laughing with his eyes, he turned his head toward the side and saw Toki, Aryll in his arms, floating down to the ground softly.

Pegasus Boots.

I disbelieve, Kaze leaned out of the lookout:

"HEY! Using your equipment is cheating!! "

He didn't get an answer, because the two had already reached the ground again and started running again. Kaze got pretty angry:  
"ARGH! So, you want to play this way?! ALRIGHT!! "

He got out his Dekuleaf and jumped down the lookout.

"They're still running…Did he lose it?!" Kaze asked himself while in midair "One step too much and he's- ugh!…"

A sharp pain suddenly went through Kaze's head and his hands slipped of the Leaf:  
"WOAH!"

Fortunately, he was merely one meter from the ground by then, so he merely jumped up again, caught the leaf, folded it and continued chasing the other two kids, who were already pretty far away from him.

But as soon as he started running again, he noticed that something was wrong…

He felt… tired.

_W-What…? What is going on?_

He shook his head, in order to get it clear again, but the sudden exhaustion stayed and got worse:

_What's wrong with my condition?... I'm not supposed to get tired from running a few steps!_

"Bi~g Brother! Hurry up!!"

Ripped from his thoughts, he looked up.

Aryll was standing on one rock at the cliff, Toki on another one.

When did they split up? He didn't notice…

Goddess, was he so tired already?

And Toki seemed to be fine...

Something was wrong…

„G-Guys…", Kaze shouted and he noticed his voice sounding weak already:

"Please, slow down! I'm…"

"Heheheh! Faster, Big brother, faster, you'll never catch us like that! You can't already be tired! Hihihi!"

Well, but he was. Dead-tired. You know that you're tired, when you can't run a straight line without starting to feel dizzy.

But seemingly, Aryll and Toki didn't notice how weird it was that Kaze was running so slowly and just continued their escape. Toki was already jumping on to the next rock, when Aryll suddenly reconsidered and decided to look back to her brother once again.

Laughing, she turned around, when her right foot suddenly slipped on a wet spot on the rock:

"AH!"  
Aryll tried to find her balance again, but couldn't.

She lost her grip on the rock and fell down, over the cliff into the sea:

"KYAAAAAAAAA!!! "

Hearing the scream, Toki turned around and saw her falling. He gasped:

"OH NO!"

"ARYLL!!!!!"

Kaze's eyes widened in shock.

He didn't feel the exhaustion anymore. Without being able to think any longer, he ran to the cliff, jumped down and entered the cold waters of the Great Sea. Not that he actually realized what he was doing.

_Aryll!_

_Aryll is in danger! _

That was the only thought in his mind.

He should have been more careful, more responsible, he shouldn't have let this happen, if something happened to her now, he would never be able to… No, she would be alright, nothing would happen, he would not let her get harmed!

As the icy seawater surrounded him, Kaze quickly opened his eyes. The salt was burning in them, but he ignored that, just like he ignored the growing exhaustion, which was still there after all. He looked around and spotted Aryll floating in the water nearby, unconscious.

"ARYLL!" he tried to exclaim, but only a swell of bubbled emerged from his mouth, no sounds. He swam over to her and grabbed her arm… when he noticed that a current had gotten hold of her and was pulling her out into the open sea… and him along with her.

_Oh no!_

Kaze tried swimming against the stream, but he had almost no energy left by then. His legs didn't quite obey his thought any longer, his movement was getting jerky and his legs would skip a move or two now or then… what was the matter with him? What was happening?

_I… I won't make it! I… can't… hold Aryll much longer!... I'm drifting away… N-No… I have to… do something… but what…?!_

He tried to keep his thoughts clear, but he was slowly running out of air as well and his mind was starting to cloud, as he accidently started breathing the water again. The pain in his lungs just added to his overall lack of energy. Still, he was pressing Aryll towards him and refused to let go of her…

Something was wrong here… very wrong… Something was wrong with him…

_Aryll… Aryll, lil' sister, I love you. I won't just let go of you… But… But I also don't want to die… not yet… Also… if I die… what will happen to… Please! If there are really gods up there, please, help me… I need… help… I…_

Just when he wasn't sure anymore if he could still feel his body, something fell over his shoulder… He didn't know where it came from, but…

…A… hook on a… silver chain?

…Hookshot-!

He quickly grabbed it and, with every little bit of energy he could still bring up, he tied the chain around himself. Then, he pulled on it. Someone started pulling it out of the water. And Kaze kept clutching onto Aryll. He held her as tightly as he could. The water rushed past him…

Finally, they left the water.

He gasped for air.

And blinked a few times to get his blurred eyesight clearer again.

Toki was standing on the cliff, pulling up the chain of his hookshot:

"Ungh… Don't… let go!" he told Kaze, who could only answer by nodding tiredly.

At least he could breathe again…

When they almost were up on the cliff again, Toki reached out his hand to Kaze and took it.

The moment their hands touched, Kaze felt how his energies started flowing better again. He took a deep breath… his thoughts were getting a little clearer as well…

Toki pulled him and Aryll up.

"Aryll!"

Kaze stood up and put his sister down into the grass beside him. He kneeled down and leaned over her, trying to press the water out of her lungs. Toki tried to help, but started shouting in panic as well:

"I-I am sorry, I didn't think she would slip, we just wanted to play, oh no, goddesses no, I should have been more careful, I didn't want-"  
„Forget that now!!" Kaze hissed at him.

"Aryll! Aryll, wake up, please!!"  
„Uhh…"

The eyes of the little girl opened slowly…

"Big… Brother…?"

"Thank heavens!!"

Kaze embraced his little sister:

"Are you alright?!"  
"There…"

She still sounded weak:

"There was a… tunnel…"

"Aryll, don't worry, it's alright again now-"

"Not this kind of tunnel…"

She took a deep breath:

"Big brother… Link… There was…an entrance to… some kind of large tunnel…. Under the cliff. By the pink corals… There was the symbol… on your hand…"

"The… Triforce?"

He took a look at his left hand—

--Oh? His eyesight was blurring again alre—

"That must have been the entrance to the tunnel!", Toki stated in excitement "Aryll, you found it!"

"Hee… Hee…"

"Ughh…"

Kaze suddenly keeled and fell into the grass like a lifeless doll.

„LINK! "

Aryll jumped up in shock:

"What is wrong with him?!"

"He must have breathed a lot of water!" Toki stated nervously "I don't know a lot about the ocean, but getting that much saltwater into your lungs can't be healthy! Quick, we gotta get help!"

With a quick nod, Aryll ran down the Beach:

"GRANDMAAA!!"

* * *

_"IDIOT! How exactly did you think it was a good idea to jump after her?! You are nuts!"_

_"Shut up! If you hadn't stopped me, I—"_

_"You would be dead now, you genius! Ever noticed the sharp rocks at the bottom?! Now, tell me, how exactly are you any help to your sister when you're dead? _

_"N-No, but…"_

_"You should be thankful that I saved you! If you can't even properly thank me, just keep your mouth shut, alright?"_

_"Then… Then let me come with you!"_

_"WHAT?!"_

_"You have a ship! Wherever that bird brought her… I will need a ship to get there! Please, you have to help me! I beg on you!"_

_„Don't you understand what you're asking? We're pirates! You know... PIRATES! The terror of the seas! What do we get out of bringing some helpless little kid along with us? I'll tell you what we get... a headache. "_

_„But—„_

_„No way! "_

_"B-But…she's my sister! I… I just want to help her! I have to help—"_

_

* * *

_

_Ma…lon? …No… her hair is completely different… But she is got the same face!_

_

* * *

_

_"Wow, I never saw Epona voluntarily approach someone as fast as that! She must really like you!"  
"Hm… Maybe she wants me to ride her?"_

_"Heheh, nice try, fairy boy, but Epona is still too young to be ridden! But father said that he's sure that she'll be a very good horse one day!"_

_"And then, I would like to ride on her, Malon!"_

_"You want to try it so badly?"_

_"Sure!"_

_"Well.. heheh… why don't you just remember the song then?"_

_

* * *

_

_„I'm Romani and have the same name as the ranch! Heheh! And what's your name?"_

_"Ah…"_

_"Huh? Why are you looking at Romani like that?"_

_"Ah, nothing… I'm Link!"_

_"Link? That's a nice name, but... Hmm... Well, all right then. How about... Grasshopper? That's the name Romani gives you. See, you're wearing green clothes, and you patter about when you walk, so Grasshopper it is!"_

_"Uhm… well, sure, why not. Heh…"_

_

* * *

_

_"AYYYYYYYYEEE!!!"_

_"ROMANI!!"_

_._

_"I have to undo this! Quick, the song of—„_

_„Link… let it be. "_

_„Tatl…? What… What are you saying?! We have to help Romani, or they'll—„_

_"And what if you manage to help her the next time? The time after, she still got captured after all! You can't be here protecting her every first night! Link… We have three days to visit four different places in four different directions… It's impossible to help Romani…"_

_"…I'm---Impossible? B-But…"_

_"All you could do was to warn her not to protect the cows on the first day… But she's even more stubborn than you. She would never listen. "_

_"B-but… Romani… If we don't help her… she'll… Romani…"_

_

* * *

_

_I just want to save her… _

* * *

_"Didn't you forget about something? Like… that girl and the children? "_

_"…"_

_"Heheheh!"  
-_

_„If something happened to her here… No… Please not. She only got involved because I accidently hurt Epona… If I just had been more careful jumping those darn fences… Argh! I have to do something! I have to help Ili-_

_._

_"For now, you can't do a thing for that girl!"_

_"She didn't even recognize me…"_

_"Amnesia. Didn't know arrows could give you that. Interesting. Well, you never stop learning, I guess. Heheheh…"_

_"It's not funny! "_

_„Yes it is. Because she is absolutely clueless to everything! What is going on, where she was just a few hours ago and, most of all, who you are! She's just pathetic!"_

_"ARGH! STOP talking like this of Ilia this instant!"_

_

* * *

_

"AH!"

Link's upper body catapulted forward in the bed, as he woke up in cold sweat…

How… What… Where…

Oh…

He was in his room… His room in their house on Outset Island…

Right…

His memories were starting to align correctly again…

He tried to recall the dream he had just a second ago.

The first part was rather easy to recall—Of course, this was something from his own memories. That was his first real dialogue with Tetra… Just after Aryll got kidnapped…

The second part…

The other voice in that dream sounded a little bit like Aryll… But he called her "Malon"…

Didn't Toki once mention a girl with that name? He also mentioned something about her resembling Aryll a little bit…

Could this have been one of his memories?

Kaze turned to the side and found Toki sleeping on the futon beside his bad, quietly and in peace…

But maybe they shared a dream just a second ago? He would have to ask him the next morning.

The third part of the dream must have been from Toki as well… The voices were just the same.

But the girl suddenly called herself "Romani". Rather extensively…

Weird…

But not as weird as the last part of the dream…

…

"Just the same as last night…" Kaze whispered.

The pattern was the same again: One of his memories. Followed by another one, which was obviously one of Toki's. And then, this weird, blurred out part…

"Blurred" was the most accurate term to describe it, because he couldn't recall any pictures from those two last sections of the dreams he had the past two nights. All he knew was that his voice in those parts was rather deep… like that of a young adult. And then, there was this other voice…

Kaze would have said it was a girl, but it was hard to tell, since the voice did sound everything but human. Her (he decided that it was girl. End of story.) voice was strangely distorted and unnaturally high-pitched and she had a hard accent with weirdly placed emphasis... Also, everything she said sounded offending. Seriously. Hearing this girl talk was incredibly unsettling. Not to mention creepy.

And then, they were talking about another girl… I… Il…

Now, he couldn't recall the name. He could recall barely anything of the stuff "he" and the creepy-voiced girl (hopefully) were talking about.

Where did that part of the dream come from? Toki? No… He just knew that this wasn't one of Toki's memories. If he really met such a creepy person as the girl in the dream, Toki would have mentioned it to him… at least he thought that.

…

Maybe… Maybe those parts came from another of their incarnations? But why? Why all of the sudden?

…

Stupid question.

It should be obvious why:

The wall was breaking. Time and space were collapsing. That's why memories from everywhere were leaking through to him. They didn't have much time anymore… Past, Present and Future were already starting to mash.

Great. Just great.

Why was he in the bed anyway…?

…

Oh yeah. He collapsed after pulling Aryll out of the water, didn't he?

Link sighed.

He had been so incredibly tired all of the sudden…Why?

That's when he noticed… that current had been rather fast. He and Aryll should have drifted away at least a hundred meters from the island… Toki should have been affected by that.

Yet, he was still strong enough to pull them both out of the water… And when Kaze took his hand, he…

He received energy. There was no other way to describe it. For a few minutes, he could move normally again, before he collapsed. _  
_  
Kaze gulped. That was wrong.

He was supposed to be the one providing Toki with energy. _Not the other way around. _

Just what had been wrong with him? Why did he lose all his energy all of the sudden? Why did he faint?

Something was… happening to him.

And it couldn't be anything good.

However much was still left of this night… He was not sure if he would be able to go to sleep again with this kind of thoughts on his mind.

* * *

Out on the Beach… A shadow wandered.

And laughed--

_---Note_

_Everything you think about the last two sentences is WRONG! XD_

_Just wanted to get that out of the way! ^^_

_Ah, long chapter again. Yeah, according to me, TWW Link and Aryll's daddy looks like OoT Link with slightly darker hair (and less muscles… the overall body built may be weaker as well, but that's beside the point). Yeah, I drew him. Likewise, their mom is supposed to look similar to Marin, but with pale blonde hair and a different dress. But those are mostly aesthetical choices (Did I spell it right?) I mostly made because of Aryll's love to seagulls, which she shares with Marin. Oh, and that pictograph of the whole family (minus grandma)? Is actually a fanart that can be found on my dA account. Back when I drew it, I was so proud of it, that I integrated it in my fanfic. But now it doesn't look all that good to me anymore… ^^;_

_Aww, aren't children playing tag with each other the cutest?_

_Aww, aren't children saving their little siblings from drowning in the ocean the cutest?_

_Aww, aren't children almost dying from mysterious energy-drain the cutest?_

_Aww…. OK, I stop already. XD_

_Plot Device number one: Granny's sewing skills._

_Plot Device number two: Aryll just so happening to stumble across the entrance to the water temple (while drowning, you mind)._

_Saving little girls (and some rather adult ones) must be some kind of hobby to Link—Oh wait, it canonically is. The games are even named after one(-hundred of them). XD_

_Don't worry TWW Link, Midna is a girl. Her hips don't lie. ;-) XD_


	25. Shadows and the Sun

Chapter 24:

Shadows and the Sun 

„Damn it!"

Furiously, Midna kicked the wall as hard as she could:

"We were almost fried, drowned, struck by lightning and frozen, but nowhere even the slightest bit of a hint of how to solve this whole darn mess!! Meanwhile, we got messages of _10_ more mysteriously appearing storms out of nowhere, avalanches in the mountains and, oh, people claiming they saw boats floating in the sky! If this continues, we're all done for!"

It was obvious that at very least, Midna's nerves were already "done for".

"Please, try to stay calm!", Zelda, who wanted to keep a cool head in this difficult situation, told her.

"What?! You suggest that I just lie down and take a nap, like HIM?!"  
Her finger shot out, into the direction of, the yet still motionless, Link.

"Midna!", Zelda shouted out, not trusting her own ears at what she was hearing.

"I.. I am… sorry…"

The Twilight Princess calmed down again a little:

"I am… just worried… OK. Make that _very _worried."

"And you are working too hard.", Zelda told her "Ever since you arrived here, you didn't retread into the shadows even once… I know that part of my essence still dwells within you, but that doesn't change the fact that you are of the Twilight People and actually need the twilight of your own world to survive. It must be incredibly exhausting to you to walk unprotected in our sun all this time… Are you sure, you don't want to rest for a few hours?"

"No. I am fine, really.", Midna quickly replied. She sighed and paused a moment: "…OK, we got to keep on trying to figure something out! Any news yet?"

"Well, I sent Ilia to ask the townspeople for rumors about any strange events in the recent past, which could prove to be of informative value. Also…"

Zelda unfolded a little piece of paper on the table next to her:

"We just received a message of yet another, seemingly oceanic storm… In Gerudo desert."

"Can you make any sense out of that?"

Zelda shook her head.

„It is strange. Though Hyrule does have island colonies out on the open sea, it does not actually have any direct access to the ocean. I cannot understand how this kind of storm can develop in this land. It should be impossible…"

"Hmm… could it be that the sea level was higher in the past?"

"I honestly doubt this. Nothing in Hyrule would point towards this possibility."

"Ohh…"

Midna sit down, put her hand to her forehead and sighed loudly:  
"We are moving in circles! Time's running out, yet we don't know any more than we did in the beginning!"

"We mustn't give up our hope!", Zelda quickly told her "If we keep and keep on searching for the truth about all that is happening right now, we are certainly bound to discover something eventually! I am sure!"

"Hm.."

Midna looked up, directly into Zelda's eyes.

"What is it?", Zelda asked.

"Nothing special… I just had to think about how… he would have said just the same thing. Yeah, he pretty much would have…"

Simultaneously, Zelda and Midna let their heads sink. And Hyrule's Princess sighed:

"Oh, Link…"

"…Zelda…"

"Oh?"

The two women looked up. This voice…

"…L-Link?"

Zelda quickly turned to the side, towards the bed…

Was it… was it possible? Link… His face was moving!

Midna and Zelda jumped up, out of their seats and ran over to the bed, watching the sleeping, young man.

"Link!!", Midna shouted "Link, can you hear us?!"

Zelda got loud as well:

"Wake up, we beg you!!"

And…

Just a tiny gap wide, Link's eyes opened. Just a tiny little bit…

And they were empty. Absolutely and utterly devoid of… anything.

A short shriek escaped Zelda, as she saw this. Then she noticed that on his left hand, barely noticeable, yet there… the Triforce had reappeared. For no apparent reason.

And Link's voice repeated weakly:

"…Princess… Zelda…"

"Link!", both of the women repeated.

"…Zelda… I'll… come back one day…. Zelda… I promised… we'll meet again… one…day…"

"But I am here Link! I am right here!!Link!"

Zelda's voice sounded incredibly despaired.

"And you are here too!... Please be here!!"

"And…thank you… for your Ocarina… you were right…The goddess of time… protected me…all of them… Without the Ocarina… everyone would have perished…"

"Ocarina?!" Midna seemed, like she was about to panic. "I don't get it! What are you talking about?! Link! LINK!!"  
Zelda could only shake her head in a begging way:

"Link… please…"

She took his hand and pressed it:  
"…wake up…"

"Zelda… I want you to be free as well…"

"W-What?!"

"…Uh…"

After those words, Link's empty eyes closed again and the weak light of the Triforce mark faded, leaving behind not even the slightest hint of the sacred symbol on the young man's hand. He became just as motionless as he was before.

In shock, Midna gasped:

"No!!"

She took him by his shoulders and shook him:

"Wake up!! ARGH! I told you to…WAKE UP! WAKE UP, YOU GIANT IDIOT!"

"Midna…"

"We need you! Don't you get it?! WE NEED YOU RIGHT NOW!! COME BACK!!....

…Come… back…"

"Midna… He can't hear you…"

Finally, Midna let go of Link's shoulders… and fell into her knees:

"You… You…Idiot…", she whispered once again, facing the floor.

"Why is he worried for me…?", Zelda quietly asked. "Why did he say this? Why, when he is the one, who… And yet, he…"

…

-Wait!"

A realization hit Zelda out of nowhere. She stayed silent for a moment, as the thought slowly became an idea. She then stepped back from the bed and said in a confident voice:

"To the royal library!"

Hearing this, Midna jumped up again:

"What?! How can you possibly take this to be the right time to do some reading?!"

But a fire of enthusiasm and security, was burning in Zelda's eyes, like Midna never saw it before.

"Link mentioned an Ocarina! An Ocarina powerful enough to save people's lives! In all the myths and legends of our realm, there is only a single Ocarina mentioned, that would be capable of such a feat… given that it is not a mere fable… this Ocarina could be the key to awaken him again!"

Midna realized that Zelda was right:

"…In that case, we got to find this thing and fast!!"

And Princess Zelda nodded:

"Yes. We have to. I just pray to the gods, that we are right. That it will really cause Link to…

* * *

…_wake up."_

"Uhh… I am awake…", he told himself. At least, he hoped so.

Great. Voices in his head… then again, he was really pretty tired right now. But also, his throat was dry like fresh ashes. He just needed some water, or he would not, under no circumstances, be able to sleep again.

Link(Kaze) tiredly descended the staircase, hoping that going this small distance in their little house wouldn't kill… somebody.

Also, he had to distract himself from thinking about everything that happened recently.

Uhh… this darn headache…

Why wouldn't this stupid headache stop? And he _still_ felt like hearing voices.

He really needed some water. Water and some more sleep…

"Hm?"

There was… light in the living room.

Grandma was still awake? In curiosity, Link entered the room and found his Grandma sitting there in the light of a candle, humming an old song, while sitting in her chair and sewing. Stitch for stitch, she carefully, and yet quickly attached the pieces of blue cloth in her hand to each other.

Their blue tunics…

Link smiled.

Grandma had stayed awake for so long, just in order to help really was the best. The best Grandma in the whole world, that's what she was.

"Hm-hm-hm… Huh? Oh, Link! You woke up! "

When the young boy saw his Grandmother's relieved and joyful look, he just smiled and nodded in embarrassment.

"Ah, this good… So you are fine. We were already worried, you'd… you really got us all startled, dear!"

"Sorry…", Link stated ashamed "How is Aryll?"

Grandma smiled:

"Perfectly fine, don't worry. Because you got her out of the water so quickly, she suffered no injuries. She was merely a little tired, when she told me about everything. But only because you acted so fast."

Link sighed:

"Yeah, but, like you said, I just acted. I wasn't really aware of what I was doing. We both would have drowned if Toki… the other boy… hadn't helped me to get out of the water again."

Grandma sewed a few more stitches, before she continued:

"Oh yes… that other boy. How you collapsed seemed to quite hit him…"

"What? Oh, you mean, he collapsed as we—"  
„No, No. I didn't mean physically.", Grandma quickly corrected "I was talking about his behavior for the rest of the day. He wouldn't stop insisting, that it was his fault, because he played too wildly with Aryll… Complete nonsense, of course. Aryll has always been quite energetic. There's nobody to blame for her acting the way that she does. That's just how she is. Ah, Aryll…"

"And he really blamed himself for what happened?", Link asked, feeling a little unsettled by this thought. "But it's not like he did do anything to cause Aryll to slip!"

"He said that jumping on the rocks near the cliff had been his idea.", Grandma answered with a shrug "I think, Aryll would have gotten the very same idea all by herself anyway. I know her. Still, your friend kept insisting that he should have thought this idea through, before suggesting it to her.

He sat beside your bed the whole evening and talked about how irresponsible he was. How he, unlike you, would be completely lost without someone to act as the voice of reason."

"That's not true. It's not like _I_'d do perfectly well without somebody to give me advice now and then. I…" he blushed "…tend to do pretty dumb things when nobody holds me back as well…"

"Still, he seemed pretty convinced that you had a better sense of responsibility than him and was rather ashamed for suggesting something as dangerous as this to Aryll."

"Ah…"

Link looked up to the ceiling, where their shadows moved in the light of the candle:

"Me and responsible… As if. I guess he just doesn't know me enough yet, after all."

Without searching anything, Link let his eyes wander along the wooden logs of the ceiling and had to think of Tetra. And the king of Hyrule.

Without the two of them, he would have achieved nothing and only searched the seas without any plan or system, until he died of starvation—

No, not even that. If the King of Red Lions hadn't saved him, he would have drowned, because he was stupid enough to just barge into the room with the kidnapped girls without any care or preparation.

And, even worse, if Tetra hadn't been there in the very beginning, he would have fallen from, what was pretty much the highest cliff on their island. Even if the fall hadn't killed him (which it certainly would have), he would have- again- drowned.

Wow, now that he thought about it, he was actually really prone to drowning out of stupidity.

So much for "The more responsible one".

Just what gave Toki this idea? …Maybe his constant worrying about his friends. But this had nothing to do with "responsibility". It's true; he would never have suggested Aryll to play this nearby the cliff. But only because the possible scenario of Aryll falling down there alone was enough to turn him off, not because he gave it any actual thought. Whenever Tetra suggested something was a stupid idea, she had thought it trough and taken all possible outcomes into account beforehand. He never did this. He just… acted. Yes.

And on top of that, Toki's swordskills clearly exceeded his. And he would have never been able to just accept a fate like Toki's for himself. He would not have been to stay this cool…

Actually, he was bit weaker in quite a lot of aspects… wasn't he?

"Done!"

Once again, Link was ripped out of his thoughts and turned to the side. His Grandma was holding a small, blue Tunic in her hands, a second one was lying on her legs.

"Wow, already finished?", Linki asked in surprise.

Grandma just smiled:

"Of course! A skilled seamstress is fast… I might have made one or two mistakes here or there through… Link, would you be so kind to try it on?"

She handed him the blue clothes over. Link nodded and accepted them.

"OK, I'm going to get changed!", he told her. "Wait a minute, Grandma!"

The tunic under his arm, he went over to the bathroom. He closed the door, lit the candle, got out of his green clothes. He neatly folded them and put them aside, before he changed into the blue tunic in their place.

A look into the mirror…

How weird. He felt just like back on his 12 birthday. Back, when he first changed into the Hero's clothes…

„_Grandma… do I really have to?"_

„_Don't make this face, Link! It's just for a single day."_

"_But it's July! I will feel like frying, once I change into this stuff…"_

"_Link, it's a tradition! Also, I believe you'll look very handsome in those clothes."_

"_With that hat? Yeah, right. I always thought my birthday was about what I wanted…"_

"_You will come to like them eventually! Believe me!"_

"…"

Link smiled. Back then, he didn't know how right his Grandma had been. The weird looks he got from time to time didn't really bother him anymore. His tunic was part of who he was now.

He turned all around and looked at the blue clothes. Despite the limited resources, Grandma apparently still let her creativity flow into her work:

The tunic looked a lot like his usual one on the first glance, but there were a lot details which differed a little bit, like very short sleeves and a differently shaped cut for the neck. Also, she placed the stitches differently, probably to make it more robust, despite having had to use a lot less tissue.

The light blue undershirt, she had probably added herself from Link's old clothes…

Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Link suddenly remembered how much blue he used to wear. Maybe it was even his favorite color back then… he never gave this too much thought. Now he wondered what became of his favorite shirt, the one with the shrimp on it… Did Grandma throw it out? He hoped she didn't. He always liked that shirt.

Then, he wondered if the second blue tunic would look exactly the same as this one. If it did, he and Toki would end up looking even more than each other…

And taking the fact in account, that the water was most likely going to cause their hair to get equally messed up…

Link grinned.

…it could get a little difficult to actually tell them apart.

KRCKS.

Startled, Link turned towards the door.

The… sound of wood cracking?

What did ha—

"EEEEEK!"

A scream.

And the voice was…

"GRANDMA!!"

In shock, Link unlocked the door and rushed out, back to the living room:

"Grandma, what—"

The remaining question became pointless, when Link saw what happened…

Someone smashed a hole into the wall. And his Grandma was cowering in the corner of the room in fear, surrounded by monsters, who looked like a mass of black pudding…

"Oh no!!—Ha-"

Link wanted to draw his sword… but he didn't have it on him.

He remembered… He left it upstairs, in his room.

"Arghh…"

Unarmed, Link ran towards the creatures. He grabbed a log of wood and started smacking them out of the way, finally reaching his grandma and taking her hand:

"Grandma!"

"Link! Oh my goodness…"

She quickly got up and picked up the second blue tunic, while Link started fighting of the monsters again:

"AHH! GO AWAY!!", he shouted, while smacking the beasts with his improvised weapon.

But those were too many… and he was still not completely fit again. He needed help… and a proper weapon. Also, he had to get Grandma and Aryll somewhere save…

Aryll was upstairs. Just like his sword.

"Grandma, quick, this way!"

"Oh- All…right…"

With his Grandma by his right hand, he ran upstairs. He had to wake up Toki—

Except, there was no need to do that anymore. The monsters had already taken care of this.

"Aryll, get behind me!"

"Y-yeah…"

The Hero of Time raised his sword, while little Aryll clenched to his tunic, cowering behind him, and he was ready to fight of the dark masses of… something, which were slowly approaching him.

"What are those…", he asked puzzled.

"Pure magical force!"

Eyne popped up from under his cap, (where she had hidden, of course), exclaiming this last sentence loudly.

"Magical force?"

"But the dark kind! The really, really, really bad kind!", the fairy stated "You must not, I repeat, _not _touch this, or it will react to your essence, and-"

Too late. Link was already standing in one of the moving puddles with one foot.

"Uh Oh!"

He quickly backed off with Aryll, as the indefinable mass of something started to vibrate suspiciously.

"Eeek!", Eyne shrieked: "Bad, Bad, BAD!"

"What?! What is gonna happen now?!", Link asked her nervously.

But Aryll was faster:

"Ah! L-Look!!"

Link quickly turned his head to around again and realized, that the „magical force", as Eyne had called it, was starting to pile up more and more, steadily forming and staking on a distinct shape.

A shape very familiar to Link.

-His shape.

"D-Dark Link?!", he exclaimed in surprise, as Aryll backed off scared.

Talk about Dejá vú.

Link's eyes widened, as he had to remember his fight against this creature… in the heart of the water temple. A foe with all of his skills, imitating every single of his moves. One of his hardest battles…

"But… how…"

"That's what I wanted to warn you off!!", Eyne quickly shouted "Because you touched it, it reacted to your essence and took on your form! A 1:1 copy!"

"Reacted to my essence… now I get it… Argh…"

Toki brought himself into position, then charged towards his dark lookalike:  
"But I got rid of you once and I'll do it again!!!"

He tried to slash Dark Link, but his strike got countered by the enemy, and with a lot of force at that. Link was thrown backwards by the impact and almost fell into the remaining dark mass, but managed to find his balance again in the last moment and jumped away from it:  
"Wheew! Close one! The last thing we need now is an army of those!"

"Agreed, Agreed, Agreed!", Eyne stated quickly: "Listen to me! Dark Magic's power increases with the number of negative emotions it can feast on! Therefore, you have to stay calm! The angrier you get, the stronger this guy will become!"

"Calm?! How am I supposed to stay calm, when there's a little girl endangered in here?!", Toki argued, when a said little girl suddenly screamed:  
"AH! Turn around!!"

Hearing Aryll's suggestion just in time, Link did so and just in time to dodge an attack by his opponent. He jumped, tried to strike back, but only hit his opponents blade once again… And the impact had really gotten harder.

He backed off:  
"Argh… OK, Link… calm down… think of something… peaceful…"

Just why was everything that came to his mind right now just way, way off this intention?

"Toki!!"

It was Link(Kaze), who came rushed up the stairs, his Grandma by his hand:

"Down in the living room are—AH?!"

In shock, Kaze opened his eyes wide, when he saw Toki and the Dark Link fighting.

"What… What is going on here?!... HM!"

Leaving Grandma at the staircase, Kaze ran towards his friend, in order to help him.

Aryll noticed him:

"…O~i!!" Big brother!!"

„Huh?!"

It was just then, that Toki, too, noticed the other boy approaching:

"Kaze! Don't come any closer!!!", he tried to warn, but it was already too late. Kaze was already standing right in the dark mass… and jumped in shock, when he noticed this:

"Wha---?- AH!"  
He backed off, as the moving puddle piled up before him, creating an exact copy of him.

An exact copy with black clothes, grey skin, red eyes and white hair.

And it gave the original a self-confident smirk.

"W-What…."

"That's Dark Link!!", Toki shouted „This guy will imitate every single of your moves, so don't just attack him thoughtlessly, OK?!"

Kaze backed off a little.

"I…"

He took a deep breath and stopped stuttering:

"I can't fight him at all, if I don't have a weapon!!"

"Big Brother!!"

Aryll waved at Link from across the room. She threw him his sword in its scabbard:

"Catch!!"

The weapon fly across the room. Link jumped and grabbed it, drawing it as soon as he got hold o fit:

"Thank you!"  
Kaze proceeded to raise his weapon and try to slash his opponent… the next thing he felt was being hit on his right shoulder, followed by a sharp pain, which caused him to back of quickly:  
"ARGH!"

He took a look at his shoulder. Luckily, he reacted fast enough. There wasn't too much blood, it was merely a little bit worse than a scratch… And not his left arm, that's what counted. Also, the tunic stayed undamaged. The undershirt however… he would have to replace this afterwards.

"I told you, he would mimic you!!", Toki shouted.

"But how else am I supposed to fight him?!"

He watched Toki, who managed to get the upper hand in the struggle against his own doppelganger, by setting the slashes so precisely, that they still hit, even though the enemy was mimicking them. Also, Toki still managed to dodge, while doing so… It was just amazing, how great his swordskills actually were, when it came down to it.

There was no way, Kaze could do that… he had to find a different way to damage the enemy…

"Use a different weapon!!", Toki suggested, when he saw how clueless Kaze was "He shouldn't be able to copy anything except the sword!"  
"Different weapon, different weapon…"

So he could use the Skull Hammer, Ciela's Hammer, the Hookshot, his boomerang—

"Uh Oh…"

When Kaze tried to reach for his stuff, realized a grave problem with this.

He didn't have it on him.

Nothing of it.

His whole equipment was down in the bathroom, along with his green tunic.

"D-Darn it!"  
In sweat, Kaze continued to back off. He couldn't attack. Every single of his sword moves would be copied.

„AGH!"

…Toki's voice. Apparently his strategy wasn't working forever either.

And Kaze continued to merely back off, without letting the enemy, who persistently followed him, out of sight. Finally, he felt, how his back touched that of someone else. Apparently, Toki had used the same "tactic" as him, when his last attack failed. Suddenly, the two of them ended up standing back to back.

Which leaded to them being pretty much circled by the two Dark Links. Great, just Great.

A quick glance to Aryll, another one to Grandma…

At least the creatures seemed to ignore them.

"I'm running out of ideas…", Toki gulped: "And you?"

"Haha. You need to have those, in order to run out of them."

His short laughter of self-irony wasn't exactly raising their mood either. He glanced over his shoulder:

"Don't you have any other weapons yourself?"

Toki shook his head:

"When I woke up, my bag had been torn open. Somebody took all of my weapons, save this sword, while I was sleeping."

Kaze gulped:

"Probably somebody, who knew that _those _would attack."

"Yeah, probably…"

"What shall we do…"

Nervously, Kaze whipped the sweat out of his face:

"All our moves are being copied… everything we do it pretty much reflected back at us. If somebody else could deal the damage, this would be a whole lot ea—"

"That's it!", Toki suddenly exclaimed.

For a split second, Kaze didn't get what he meant… Then suddenly, his eyes shone in realization:

"You mean… Are you thinking, what I'm thinking?"

Even though he couldn't see his face, Kaze was pretty sure, that Toki was grinning, when he replied:

"I guess so!"

Yeah… they knew exactly, what they were going to do now.

Kaze smiled:  
"This…This could work!"

"This _will _work!", Toki stated "OK, get ready! 3…2…1…JUMP!"

Suddenly, the two boys jumped and quickly switched places.

They were now facing each other's shadow.

"Up-Slash and Counter!"

"OK! I'll attack with a diagonal slash down, from left!"

"Got it!"

The two did, what they said and, at the same time, got ready to block exactly the move the other one announced.

It worked: The Dark Links, unable to do anything but imitate the moves of their respective originals, did precisely that and ended up being hit completely off-guard by the Link's attacks. They became utterly predictable. Suddenly, the battle got incredibly easy…

First, Toki's clone melted and disappeared into nothingness before Kaze. Kaze's double did just the same not to long after.

It got quiet for a few seconds…

"Wheew…"

"Link!"

His Grandmother finally left her place next to the staircase and came run up to her grandson:

"Oh my goodness, children, you are not hurt, are you?"

Kaze quickly covered the scratch on his shoulder with the short sleeves of the tunic:

"Don't worry, Grandma, we're fine."

"Yeah, everything OK.", Toki nodded.

"And you, Aryll?"

"I'm well, Grandma…", she answered, still a little startled, as she stood up from the ground.

Their Grandmother took a deep breath and sighed:

"This was sure a shock…"

Toki looked around carefully:

"Well… wherever those things came from, at least now, they're-"

He was cut short by a scream from outside.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

"That was Sue-Belle!!", Aryll exclaimed in shock.

" 5am…" Kaze gasped, as he jumped a little: "She's always getting up before sunrise and passing by our house to fetch water for Sturgeon!"

The two boys looked at each other, nodded and rushed down the staircase and out of the house.

Just before the veranda, they found the young woman sitting on the floor in shock, unable to move, the pot she fetched water with in shards. All around here were the very same creatures which caused the boys trouble just minutes ago.

"Ahh…Somebody, help me!!"  
"We're here!"

The boys rushed down and placed themselves between Sue-Belle and the monsters… when the noticed that said monsters were getting more and more numerous every second.

"Oh no!"

Kaze gulped:  
„We… we can't fight that many!"

"The…"

This one "the" came from Eyne, but she hesitated to finish the sentence for some reason.

"I mean… uhm…"

"Eyne!"

Toki called out to her:  
„Eyne, if you know how to get rid of those, please tell us!"

"I… I don't…"

"Eyne!", Kaze shouted. „Please!"

„…"

Eyne still hesitated. She took a look around… finally, she took a short breath and said:

"Think logical! Those are shadows! How to erase a shadow?"

"With light!", Toki realized.

"But the sun is only raising in half an hour!", Kaze said "We're finished till that hap-!"

He stopped mid sentence…

And both boy's eyes widened, as they simultaneously said something:

"...Sun's song…" "…Song of Passing…"

They looked at each other in an asking manner.

"…A; F; D?", Kaze asked.

Toki nodded:

"…A;F;D."  
„_Play_ it then!!"

With an approving look, the boy quickly got out his Ocarina.  
And played A F D as quickly as he could. Just he did, the sun started to rise, all of the sudden and much too early. Just like time had decided to pass faster. And as soon as the first bright sunrays hit the shore of the island, the shadow-like creature on the ground started to fade and finally disappear completely, without any trace.

Carefully, the boys looked around… but the monsters were really all gone.

Toki sighed: "Finally that's over… So we both knew that song, huh?"

Kaze didn't answer… He just starred at the spot, where a second before the monsters had still been…

They had faded…

„Lady, are you alright?"

Toki helped Sue-Belle up, as she nodded:

„Yeah…Ahh… my pot…"  
Sue-Belle took a look at the remains of her trademark… then sighed:

"Well... better, than my neck, I guess… Boys, thank you!"

She looked at Toki:

"You saved my life…"

"We're just glad, that nothing worse happened.", Toki stated with a smile. "I just hope you'll be able to find a replacement for that pot!"

"I got a few more at home.", she stated. "And I'll go and fetch one now. The water is not going to come into our house all by itself. Thank you again, kids… I wish I had something, I could give to you!"

"It's not necessary really!"

"Still…", she smiled: "I wish you all the best for your remaining quest!—Oh! That rhymed! Ah… Excuse me now!"

Sue Belle waved, as she ran back to her house and Toki waved back at her.

"Ah… at least that girl's alright. Right, Kaze?"

"…"

"…Kaze?"

Toki turned towards him, as Kaze, who was still starring at this particular spot, whispered:

"…I don't get it…"

"Huh?"

Toki approached him:

"Get what?"

Kaze raised his head:

"How you can… be like this… When… When _this_ is your fate."

He turned towards Toki:

"You are going to be just the same as those monsters… You are going to fade away and die! There's nothing we can do about it! Yet you keep going!"

"…"

As Toki just looked at him in a calm manner, Kaze continued:

" When I was in the world of the Ocean King, I felt completely lost at first, but thinking of Tetra kept me going. Thinking of meeting her again and seeing her smile again! But… But you have nothing left! No future, none of the people you knew, not even the world you used to protect… Everything has changed and you don't even have anything to look forward to! How can you still smile?"

Toki answered, by doing exactly this. Smile.

He turned to the side and looked up the sky:

"…Sure a cool coincidence, that we both knew this song, huh?"

"H-Hey! Don't just change the topic!"

"What do you think of the sun?"

"Huh?"

Kaze stepped up and looked to the sky. And finally, he answered:

"It… It's…"

He closed his eyes:

"…Warm and Pleasing… I think…"

"Hehe…"  
Kaze turned towards Toki again, when he heard him laughing. And Toki also turned towards Kaze. He kept smiling and closed his eyes:

"You know… The sun didn't change."

_Kyou no ureshikatta kao, Kyou no kanashikatta kao,  
Kinou yowakatta jibun to, Ashita kitto tsuyoi jibun to,  
Anata nara dare ni misete'ru? Watashi nara dare ni misereba ii?_

_(Today's happy face, today's sad face.  
Yesterday's weak self, tomorrow's strong self.  
If this is you, who are you showing it to? If this is me, who should I show it to?)_

_-Trauma (Ayumi Hamasaki)_

_---Note  
_

_*singing*_

"_jikan nante mono wa hmhm… lalala…--- Oh! Sorry! _

_*stops*_

_Ayumi Hamasaki's songs are just too awesome. XD_

_If you plan on listening the song mentioned above, do it so that the last cue of the intro plays just as you read the "The sun didn't change", line. That's how I intended it to be. _

_The reason the song is there, that the fanfic is supposed to have kind of an anime format… One Opening song an arc, two ending songs an arc. This is the first ending song of the first arc (placed at the end of the first half of the first half, because it's an "ending" song, duh)_

_A fun-fact: "Trauma" is the song Ayumi Hamasaki is most prone to forgetting the lyrics of, when performing on a concert. She usually reacts humorously to this, by just singing "Lala, I so totally forgot the lyrics again, lala! And can't remember at all, lala!"_

_Anyway, aside the song… Another song-related thing! XD_

_Sun's Song and the Song of Passing are really the same, but I guess you already noticed this. And yes, the notes are actually A F D. I looked them up._

_Midna goes berserk. Maybe she just feels neglected, because Link didn't mention her in his sleep-talking. Don't know. XD _

_Don't worry, I didn't dispose of Ilia, she's still gonna have lots and lots and lots of scenes in this story, she merely didn't fit in here. _

_Fun fact: When I wrote Zelda's "To the library" link, I actually replaced it with "TO THE BATMOBILE!" for a second and got a good laugh out of it, before I changed it back again. It was just too perfect. _

_I know, Link's Granny is, like, the fastest seamstress in the world, but I NEEDED her to finish those tunics that fast. -.-; Also, this is the same woman who cooks invincibility-soup. I guess she could easily be capable of high-speed-sewing as well. _

_So, and now for the fangirl service: Not one, but TWO Dark Links! _

_And now, everybody together: SQUEEEEE!!_

_Everybody else thinking that Dark Toon Link is just the most awesome abomination, the dark forces ever created?_

_Not the last appearance of Dark Link(s)…_

_However: NO, this was NOT the shadow mentioned in the last chapter! XD_

_Anyone else laughing about poor __**SUE**__-Belle's name?_

_However, her German name is "Varsha". Don't know if that's better or even worse… Still, in the world of fanfiction, the name "Sue" is the worst curse you can have._

_I am proud of the ending of this chapter. Especially because it was so incredibly flat in the German version. Once again, I expanded heavily here. _

_The next chapter starts the water temple. Which, by the way, will cover FIVE WHOLE CHAPTERS._

_Yeah, the water temple. How we all loathe it. Still, stay tuned. Awesome stuff's gonna happen inside._

_Read ya soon! ^°^_


	26. Piercing

Chapter 25:

Piercing

„_What…What do you mean by that? "_

"_Even if this world barely resembles the Hyrule I grew up in anymore, it still is not completely different. Its people and its places are still something worth being protected. Even if I don't have a future myself, I can still protect the future of you and your people."_

"_But… you won't be there to see what became of this future!"_

"_Would that stop you?"_

* * *

Would that stop him?...

Would it? Now that Link thought about it…

Sitting in the grass, Link moved his fingers back and forth on the ground and absentmindedly watched the clouds pass by.

It was amazing… So this was this person. The legendary "Hero of Time". Everything he did to secure this place drew his own end nearer… yet he insisted on hurrying to restore the order. Just amazing. Link couldn't believe how selfless Toki could still be in his situation. How would he act, if he was in Toki's place? Would he be able to stay this calm? After all, he loved his life. Despite everything he had to see yet, he cherished every nice moment in his memories and would hate to miss even a single one of them. And he was curious. Curious for what the future would hold for him- no -for everybody he knew. So, what would he act like, when the future suddenly… was just gone? He… wouldn't be able to accept that. Certainly, he wouldn't. He wouldn't even want to realize it to be true.

Then again, Toki only started acting like this after he regained his missing memories… And those were the memories of a complete life… He "died of old age", he said… Therefore…

Even if the other boy appeared to be his age right now and even if he claimed to feel like a child as well, he remembered a whole life worth of memories. So maybe this calmness he displayed was what the adults liked to call "the wisdom that comes with age"?

Once again Link wondered what he would be like when he grew up … He often wondered this. What would he look like? What would his voice sound like? (Like the voice of adult Toki in his dreams?) Would his way of thinking change? Maybe even a part of his personality? Actually, how many "parts" of him had already grown up and in which aspects was he still a child? He couldn't tell. It was impossible to tell for him, because he had absolutely no measure. He couldn't even tell how much he changed ever since he first left Outset Island—even though he was sure, that he indeed changed a lot ever since then.

But what made you an adult? The height? By that measure, it would take 20 more years for him till he could call himself "Grown up". Not that he wasn't growing at all, but he wasn't really growing as fast as he wished he would. Tetra was already taller than him. Which was quite an embarrassment.

…What would he be like, when he was an adult…?

"Ah…"

A voice and the sound of water splashing reached his ears, but Link didn't pay much attention. Not even when this voice announced:  
"Well… I'm ready now. Can we go?"

Toki turned towards Kaze- only to find him lying in the grass, starring at the clouds, sighing from time to time.

"…Hello?"

"Hmm…"

"…Shouldn't we…like… leave now?..."

No reaction.

Toki sighed and rolled his eyes:

"Uhm… Are you even there?"

"…"

"Kaze?"

"…"

"HELLO!!!"  
„WHOAH!"

Kaze jumped up in shock:

"W-What, where, how---"

10 seconds later, he had processed what just happened and turned towards Toki, shouting:  
"Hey! Don't scare me like this!"

Toki, however, slightly changed the pitch of his voice and said:

" 'Let's hurry and leave as soon as possible!', 'Quickly, before those monsters return!' Weren't those your exact words just an hour ago?"

He gave Kaze an accusing look and got a short rant in return immediately:

"Look, I had no sleep today, so excuse me for passing out for 2 minutes!"

"What are you talking about? You were asleep ever since yesterday afternoon!"

"That's called "being unconscious" and is not exactly restful.", Kaze replied, sounding like he felt offended by Toki's statement. "…Especially not when you're dreaming of kidnapped girls…", he added silently.

Toki heard it regardless and looked at him in surprise:  
"Huh? You… too?"

Kaze looked up:  
„We shared that dream, didn't we?"

Toki answered by nodding:

"And… the day before yesterday too?"

"Yes."

"Oh…"

Toki thought a moment:  
„So the two first segments of those dreams really were you?"

Kaze nodded:

"Yeah, from when I first started traveling. Shortly after I drew the Master Sword and… the second one was, when it all started. Shortly after Aryll's kidnapping."  
He took a short break and sighed:

"This was the first time I had any kind of conversation with Tetra. She didn't want me to tag along on their ship… I guess she thought me to be useless, because of my reaction when Aryll was kidnapped…"

"Your reaction?"

Kaze nodded:  
„The "kidnapper" was a bird. I wanted to go after it, but,… well, we were on a cliff and I'm not a Rito… therefore, trying to chase after the bird was not exactly a good plan-

-Tetra saved me."

He blushed slightly:

"Therefore, it's not actually hard to understand why she thought I wouldn't be able to help Aryll, even if I tried. You know, it took me quite a long time to finally figure out that "doing the first thing that comes to your mind" does not equal "A good plan"…"

"Everyone makes their mistakes in the beginning.", Toki shrugged. "When I started off, Gohma would have eaten me, hadn't Navi told me about the eye."

"…Isn't the eye kind of an obvious weak point?"  
"I didn't think of that back then."

"Oh…"

A short silence happened, until Kaze finally decided to ask:

"The second segments of the dreams… where yours, right?"  
Toki nodded.

"…"

Kaze didn't know what to say… Those 2 memories where…

"That girl was Malon…"

"Huh?"

When Toki started explaining his dream, Kaze looked up to him again.

"Malon was the daughter of the Lon Lon Ranch's owner, where I got my horse, Epona, from. Also, she had an amazing voice and grew up to be Hyrule's best singer later. When she was a kid, she looked a lot like your sister. Malon was a nice girl and also somewhat of a dreamer. Everybody knew that she was dreaming of marrying a knight in shining armor. And that she envied Zelda…"

"Well, what girl wouldn't envy a princess?", Kaze laughed.

"…The Princess herself…"

"Huh?"

This statement came as a surprise to Kaze, who actually meant the question to be rhetorical. But when he opened his mouth to ask Toki, what he meant, he already got a reply:

"Oh… nothing. I'm just thinking aloud."

Thinking aloud or not, that sudden statement caught Kaze off guard… The Princess herself? Then, when he thought about it… Tetra was, after more than one year, still trying to refuse the title. Maybe he meant something like that? Hmm…

He never really grasped the whole "Royalty" thing anyway. What did "being" a Princesses mean anyway? He knew that there was surely more to it than wearing fancy dresses and lots of jewelry, but what did a Princesses life look like?

Of course, that was nothing he could ask Toki. He was, quite obviously, not a Princess. Maybe Tetra knew what it meant? After all, she was the one refusing the title. He would have to ask her, once they met again… On second thought, this was a bad idea. Tetra was not too fond of "stupid" question like this. All he would get would probably be a long rant on how he's wasting thoughts on stuff he had no reason to worry about.

-- He had to get back to the topic now, or he'd drift off again:

"And… that Malon girl did have a twin-sister?", Kaze finally asked, earning himself a puzzled look by Toki:

"Twinsis—Oh."

Toki paused a second:

"Ah… You must mean Romani. She was… I guess you could say, she was Malon's „counterpart"."

"Counterpart?", Kaze replied "You mean, like us?"

"No, not really.", Toki shook his head: "In Termina, I met a lot of people, who looked exactly like people I knew from Hyrule. Romani was one of them. But she was very different from Malon in a lot of aspects."

"Oh, I get it.", Kaze quickly nodded "Those parts were in succession, because you are associating Malon and Romani to each other, right?"

"Hm.." Toki considered this a moment: "Yeah, probably."

Kaze then decided, not to cause Toki to go into the details with Romani's kidnapping. He knew that Toki didn't have too good memories of the Termina-incident and he also faintly seemed to recall him mentioning that Romani-girl before, and not in a positive relation. He surely didn't want to rub salt into those wounds, so he quickly went on:

"And… the last part?"

„Last part… you mean.."

Toki looked up:

"The imp with the flaming red hair?"  
"Huh?"

Kaze was rather surprised by this statement:

"Flaming red hair? You… remember what that thing… girl… imp-something… looked like?!"

Toki nodded:

"Don't you too?"

"Are you kidding? I can barely recall what that "me" and this imp were talking about!"

"And the part with Princess Zelda?"

"Zelda was _there_?!"

Toki realized that Kaze really had no idea what happened in the last part of the dream, so he tried to elaborate:

"First, there was the part with the imp-girl. We were talking about a girl who had amnesia. She seemed to be very close to this "me"—he amnesiac, not the imp. Anyway, the Imp kept teasing that "me" for no other reason than to show off her skills in sarcasm- At least, that's what it seemed like to me."

"OK, I got that much as well."

"Then, the dream changed."

Toki let his head sink:

"That part was weird… I felt like I was… somewhere far away. I saw Zelda. She was shouting out my name. I tried to talk to her, but I couldn't hear my own voice. But she still reacted. I think, she heard me."

"I didn't see that part…"; Kaze answered "I woke up after the part with the imp…How did Zelda react?"

"I think… she cried." Toki paused a second: „I tried to thank her for everything. And I tried to tell her, that I'd come back… But she cried. I don't know why… This last part was weird. In strange way, it felt more real than all the others…"

"I wonder where that section came from…"; Kaze said "The whole last section, inclusive flame-haired imp, I mean. I never met someone like this imp…"  
"Me neither.", Toki told him, shaking his head: „From all we know, this could be a memory from another incarnation."

"Do you think, there's a reason, why we see those memories too?", Kaze asked, but Toki just shrugged:

"I don't know…"  
"Hmm…"

Kaze let himself fall back into the grass again and continued looking up to the clouds. The red haired imp girl… that she was present in both dreams meant, that the additional segments steamed from the same incarnation… but why this particular one? Did this have a meaning? A meaning they should know about? Or maybe, he was just giving this too much thought and it was a mere coincidence…

"Hey, Kaze!"

"Huh!"

Kaze raised his upper body from the grass again:

"Y-Yeah…?"

"You were about to close your eyes again!", Toki claimed „Don't fall asleep. We really need to get going."

"I'm sorry.", he stated "I just can't seem to be able to concentrate today… I'm so tired…Huh?"

While saying this sentence, Kaze didn't really focus his eyes on Toki, but looked all around, in an attempt to keep himself busy, so he wouldn't drift off into his thoughts again. That's when he realized that there was something there… something that wasn't usually there.

"Say… am I just imagining that, or is there a box under our veranda?"

"Hm? Under the veranda?"

Toki turned around and bowed down, in order to catch a glance under the wooden fundament of the house of Kaze's Grandma. He actually spotted what Kaze was referring to: Between the sticks the veranda had for pillars, there was a wooden box.

"Oh yeah…"

"So it really is there?"

Kaze stood up from his spot:

"That's weird. Grandma never stores anything down there. I wonder…"

In an expression, which hinted suspicion, Kaze narrowed his eyes and went over to fetch the said box. Right after pulling it forth from under the veranda, he placed it before his feet, kneeled down and tried to open it:

"…Hngh!!... Argh… It's nailed…"

"Let me try!"

Toki hurried over to help his friend. Standing right before the box, he drew his sword, causing Kaze to jump up:

"Whoa! Isn't that overdoing it?"

Toki rolled his eyes:

"I'm not going to slash it, OK?"

Instead, he put the blade into the narrow opening between the cover of the box and the actual box and started pushing the handle down.

"Oh, I get it! A crowbar!", Kaze realized and Toki nodded:

"Probably not the best way to treat a sword, but I guess it can't be help, if want to open that thing--- Hng!!"

The sound of the nails popping out of their place was audible. Toki just had to push twice more, before the cover finally fell off and revealed the containments of the box.

A feeling of familiarity immediately befell the boys, when they saw the items stored within.

"Huh?"

Kaze was the first to comment:

"…A hammer, a hookshot… a boomerang, a bow… Iron Boots… uhm…"

He turned towards Toki:

"This wouldn't happen to be…?"

Toki, however, just starred:

"My stuff…"

He reached his hand inside and started taking the things out, closely examining them, only to realize that those were, in fact, yes, real and actually his missing equipment:

"It's all there…", he stated.

His expression made it pretty clear, that he didn't think this to make a whole lot of sense and his following statement only underlined this:

"But… But who could have put it there?... Who stole it in the first place anyway? And why did the thief put it down here, for me to find?"

"I have no idea, really…"; Kaze stated: "There is nobody on Outset who would do something like this! And Grandma was awake the whole night. She would have noticed, if anybody snuck up the stairs. She's old, but far from senile."

This made… no sense… whatsoever.

"…Huh?"

As Toki emptied the box of his equipment and restored it back to its rightful place in his back, he noticed something on the bottom of the box. Something that most certainly did not belong to his equipment. Still, he reached for it with it hands and took it out:

The surprise was a big one:

It was a little grey doll with black clothes and red dots for eyes…

"Dark Link!", Toki realized: "Why's there a doll of him in there?"

"Hey… there's a note!"

From the bottom of the box, Kaze got out a little, black piece of paper, which he promptly unfolded…

Written with white chalk in bold, crude letters, there were 5 words scribbled onto it…

_**Tee Hee.**_

_**That was fun.**_

"…"

Silence was the Links reaction for the following ten seconds, before Toki flatly asked:  
"…What."

"Ehhh…"

No, really. They didn't have anything to say to this. There was no way to react to a message in white letters on a black piece of paper that consisted of a meaningless sentence and the words "Tee Hee" written out.

Whatever kind of expectation they had when Kaze first unfolded the paper, it was pretty surely not this. This was beyond unhelpful. This was... saying nothing.

„Ehhh…"  
Kaze looked like he wanted to say something, but no. He just didn't find anything reasonable to say to this. At least not in the next few seconds.

"Ah…Well, at least you got your equipment back… right?", he finally stated, causing Toki to nod somewhat dumbstruck, as Kaze folded the note again and put it away.

"Say… do you have some empty bottles?", Kaze finally asked, when he finished putting the note away and Toki nodded:  
"I do now." And he showed the bottles among the items her reclaimed from the box. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought, when we go to that temple we could need some water from the well. Spending much time in the salt water does get you thirsty and I don't think those blue tunics will change that. We will need some pure water."

"Oh yeah… that's true."

He took out 2 bottles:  
„Well… I'll go fetch some water then! That well is just behind the corner, isn't it? Not really a big distance… Then you'd better check if we're still missing anything else we could need down there in the meantime, OK?"

Kaze smiled:

"OK."

With the two bottles in his hand, Toki hurried over to the well-

Yeah, the distance was really small enough, he didn't feel any change. Good.

He bent down over the well and watched his reflection in the water…

Huh. It was just now that he realized… he didn't really look into the mirror even once every since he came here, right? Even though he had been surrounded by water all the time, not once did he take any conscious glance at his reflection…

Now it was strangely weird to look at it. Probably, because he was very much aware that the last time he looked at his reflection, he must have been an old man… Now he was a child again. That was his face. His big, round eyes. His fairly small nose. The face of the young "Him"…

He still remembered how his sudden awakening as an adult had been. How incredibly weird and unsettling. But strangely, being a child again all of the sudden, after spending a whole, normal and "actual" adulthood, felt completely natural. Maybe because the memories of his "True" adulthood hadn't been there from the beginning? Probably. Still. It was still weird. His young face with the big, round eyes and all the other childlike features… This was real, wasn't it? He touched the water with one finger. Small waves started to slightly distort the reflection…

Ah, he was just wasting time, wasn't he?

Link quickly took the two bottles, which he had put away, again and filled them with the well's clear water… Actually, when was the last time, he actually used the bottles to bottle water? He had used them for so many different uses yet, like-

Oh yes, in the battle with Ganondorf.

Link smiled.

He had accidently dropped his sword back then and it fell down to the other storey. When Ganondorf started attacking him with magic spheres again, Navi had shouted "Bottle!" all of the sudden, so he actually pulled out a bottle and managed to deflect the spell with it. It was a few minutes later, when he had ran down a storey to reclaim his sword that Navi told him that she actually wanted him to drink some potion from a bottle, because she had sensed that he had already been very worn out and wouldn't have survived it if that spell hit. But using the bottle to deflect it had, strangely amusingly, worked out as well.

Of course, it hadn't really been funny when it first happened back then, but looking back at it now, it certainly was…

Yes… back then…

Link sighed.

He closely shut the second bottle. Then, he put it into his bag…

.

"What were you thinking?!"

.

"…Huh?"

Link had just wanted to go back over to Kaze… but he stopped when he heard something.

Just now… Did there somebody talk just now?

The voice had come from the pillars of Kaze's house…

On tip-toes, Toki hurried over there and stayed as silent as he could. And listened.

" Today night… you didn't tell me about this!"

Link carefully leaned across the corner, in order to try and catch a glance of the speaker…

But he couldn't quite see behind the pillar, where the voice was coming from…. No, wait.

There was… light. A dark blue light.

Link gulped. That couldn't be…

…

Whom was she talking to? He couldn't hear another voice. Maybe, he should try to get closer…

" …Joke?!…Are you aware that I could have died?--- You don't care!? You---"

…

Of course I'm aware of that, you don't need to tell m—What?! What… what are you accusing me of! I… No, I did not!...Really, that's just…"

Closer… closer…

…There really was no second voice.

Either she was talking to another fairy, or she was using telepathy- But why should she be talking aloud then?

Or she was just hallucinating and talking to herself.

He had to get closer…

"Whom are you calling a weakling? …I can do this!... Shut up, Ok?! … At least I am not hiding behind--- This does not count! … Oh, just go back and report that everything is going well so far, alright?! I've got work to do!"

The bell-like sound of fairy wings ringed for a few seconds, as the light behind the pillar disappeared from it. Link noticed it passing by the next pillar and the next one and finally flying higher and away.

"Argh.. too slow…"

Link's eyes had narrowed long ago and didn't open up completely again, as he looked into the direction, the light disappeared to…

What exactly did he just hear?

"Hey!"

"Huh?"

Link turned around to face Kaze behind him.

"What are you doing? The well is over there."

He pointed at said well and made a gesture:

"You gotta be careful! If you venture off to far without me knowing,--- there'll be trouble…"

The last part of the sentence sounded mumbled, just like Kaze didn't quite want to say it. Why was he being so unspecific—

Ah. There was a much more grave issue right now.

"Kaze!"

"Huh? Yeah?"

„The reason I didn't come right back when I had filled the bottles—Just now, I think I heard…"

He hesitated to say it, just like he feared that his words would sound utterly ridiculous and unbelievable if he did. Awaiting the rest of the sentence, Kaze tilted his head to the side and curiously asked:  
"You heard…?"

Toki was still hesitating to voice his suspicion... It really seemed a little bit farfetched, now, that he thought about it—But, maybe not _too_ farfetched. Finally, he nodded to himself and started to conclude the sentence:

"Just now, I heard somebody talking over there. And I'm pretty sure that one of them was—"

"O~i! Let's play something! Ha!"

Kaze, who had actually been absolutely focused on Toki talking this moment, was initially almost shocked, when he suddenly felt his tunic being pulled down. It, however, didn't take him long to identify the voice of the "puller" correctly:

"Aryll!"

"Link! You'll have to leave soon, won't you?" The little girl gave her older brother a heart wrenchingly adorable puppy-dog look: "So… come on and let's play just a little more, before you have to go! Ple~ase!"

Kaze tried hard not to look directly into the big, cute and wet eyes of his little sister, as she starred at him in expectation:

"Sorry Aryll, but we don't have any time! We have to leave as soon as possible! Am I right?"

The last question was clearly directed towards Toki, even though he had meant it to be semi-rhetorical anyway. Still, Toki underlined the other boys statement with a nod and an answer, even though this was not really required:

"Every second counts. The sooner we leave, the bigger the chance that we'll succeed!"

"Aww!!"

The girl's reaction was, that she started clutching at her big brother's clothes in an even steadier grip, like a kitten who was clinging onto a pillow with its claws:  
"But…I…"

"Hey, let go, Aryll."

"But I don't want you to leave again, Link!!"

This was the moment, when Kaze turned his head towards her again, meeting her eyes. She gazed at him in disappointment:

"I want you to stay! It's so boring here, ever since you've been gone! Also… It's dangerous down there, isn't it? There are monsters, like the one today night, right? I know that you are very, very strong, big brother, but maybe you won't come back anymore!"

She seemed so scared…

All of the sudden, Link felt bad. Really bad. So bad, he bit his lip.

He felt a large lump blocking his throat, as something occurred to him. Ever since he's been gone… One year ago, when he first left with Tetra…

Has Aryll been that worried for him, ever since he first left? Maybe even waiting for him to finally come back every single day? Link knew that Grandma had been troubled by it, when he came back after the last battle and told her, that he would join Tetra for good… She even tried to convince him not to do it.

But Aryll… Of course he had known that Aryll would be a little bit sad, but not a second did he consider that Aryll would be _that_ worried for him. Hearing her talking like this… it sounded like she would fear that he'd…

Aryll's eyes started getting wetter and wetter:

"Big brother… please… Link, don't go away again! I like you the best! I want you to stay!"

Link waited a short moment. Then, he smiled. He took Aryll, lifted her up and held her tightly:

"Aww… come here, Aryll, listen… I like you the best too. You are the best little sister, I could ever have! Really!"

"But why are you leaving again then?", she asked sadly. "You could stay! All of you could stay! You, that boy, the pirates. I want everybody to stay! There's still lots of space left! We can build houses for everyone and then we could all stay together and nobody would have to go away again! Everybody would be together!"

„Aryll… listen to me."

He tried to explain it the best way he could:

"I really love spending time with you and everybody else here… but there's something Tetra and me promised. Something, we promised a long, long time ago…"

Hearing this, Toki looked up. A long, long time ago? Was he talking about…

"There is something, Tetra and me have to protect. But we can't protect it, when it isn't there. So we have to find it first."

"What is this?", Aryll asked.

"A place where there is really enough space for everyone. A place where everyone can live in peace."

Aryll didn't say anything, but clutched evener tighter to her brother's tunic and pressed herself near towards him.

"And… once we found that place… We'll come back and take everybody there! "  
"Why can't we just come with you then?", Aryll finally asked "That would be faster. And I wouldn't have to watch you sail away again. Why can't we just come along?"  
"It will probably be dangerous. We might be attacked by someone, when we first get there."

"I'm not scared."

"But do you think, Grandma would make it? Or all the other old people here?"

Aryll loosened her grasp a little bit.

"But, if it really is that dangerous… then I was right after all! You are very, very strong… but maybe, something will happen… and then, everybody will keep waiting for you… and waiting and waiting and waiting… but you just won't come back…"

_Again…_

Kaze's eyes widened, when this word suddenly, for no apparent reason, crossed his mind. "Again"… A glance towards Toki told him, that he must have had the same thought just now. And suddenly, Kaze also got why…

Suddenly, he realized how incredibly… _lucky_ he had been up till now. There had been, like, a thousand perfectly good occasions to die for him yet, but he always somehow managed to bail his way out of the misery- or had somebody bail him out. Of course, part of the reason for this was that he was kind of skilled at "surviving" one way or the other, but… but what if one time something would go wrong? Just once would be enough. A false decision, a wrong move… What if he made the wrong mistake in the wrong moment?

He would leave Tetra alone and Aryll alone and everybody alone…

Suddenly, the last passage of the legend of the Hero of Time, like Grandma used to tell it to Aryll and him, came to his mind. This one sentence…

"_The hero did not appear"…_

…It had taken a thousand years for another hero to be born. Thousand years…

And even if he actually was reborn, he wouldn't remember. Nothing. He would be a blank sheet again. And nobody would even know that it was him.

Thousand years…

The image of Aryll growing up to be a young woman and standing on the Beach, waiting and waiting and waiting… and nobody would come…

…there was no guarantee, that they would make it. There was no way to tell that they… that he was really going to come back.

But he had to go. He knew that he had to.

And so, Link decided—

"Aryll…"

He held her tightly:

"I will come back from that temple. And when the others and I sail away again… I'll come back then as well! Promise!"

"...Can you even promise that?", she asked in an unsettlingly doubting manner.

This caused Link to hesitate for a short moment… but he eventually nodded with a smile:

"I can do it… just believe in me, OK?"

She looked into his eyes…

"And once Tetra and I found the mainland… I'll search something pretty for you! Something special!"

Aryll smiled a little bit. She giggled:

„Heheh… how special?"

„Super-special! Like in one-of-a-kind!"

She wiped away the few tears on her face:

"And… will it sparkle in the sun? Will it be pretty?"

Link raised his sister up into the air and announced:

"Of course! It will be sparklier and prettier than every other sparkly and pretty present in the world!"

"And it will be big!!"

"It will be enormous!!"  
"And it will FLY!"

"Ehhh—Uhm…Yeah, sure, why not!"

"Heheheheheh…"

Aryll laughed. Her mood had obviously gotten better again. As her brother put her down again, she sighed once and smiled:

"OK… Big brother, I believe in you! I really do. And will wait. I believe that you will come back! I believe it because you are way too strong to have something happen to you! Right?"

Link knew exactly well that this last sentence wasn't really true, but regardless, he winked:

"Exactly!"

Toki watched and smiled with a nod. He too believed, that Kaze would make it… he had enough determination to do it.

"Say…", he took one step towards the other two:

"Where exactly did you see the temple entrance?"

Aryll turned towards Toki and smiled:

"By the pink corrals! It really stands out and is hard to miss! Otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed it!... Huh?"

Aryll caught a glance of something, which attracted her attention.

"Big brother, what is this?"

She was referring to the doll, which he had jammed under his belt. Aryll came closer and took a look at it:  
"A dolly… huh?…It looks a little bit like you…" She looked up to her brother: "Where did you get this from?"

"I don't know…", he answered "It was just there when… Aryll?"

In the meantime, Aryll had taken the doll from under his belt. She was now gazing at it…

Completely occupied…And for some reason, she looked a little pale.

"... Aryll, are you alright?"

"This… cold…"

"Huh?"

"That doll is cold…and it looks so… unsettling…", Aryll whispered, as she looked at the dolls red dot-eyes…

"…Huh!"

Suddenly, she just dropped it. Scared, she hugged her brother again and stated:

"I don't like it! There something wrong with it! It is so cold…Put it away!"

"Aryll?"

"Hm…" Toki seemed to consider something: "I once heard a rumor that sometimes Hylian children have a better sense for magical force than most adults."

Kaze turned towards him, still trying to comfort his sister again:  
"You mean Aryll might have sensed some kind of black magic spell on that weird doll, or something?"

"It could be."

Toki looked down at the black doll on the ground:

"Maybe it's the best, if we got rid of this… Just to be sure."

He went over to the doll, picked it up and went down to the Beach with it, causing Kaze, who of course followed him, to ask:  
"…You're gonna throw it into the Ocean?"

"No, that wouldn't be enough.", Toki answered "I want to make really sure… It'd be better if you and your sister stepped back!"

Without asking any further questions (but definitely having them on their minds), both, Kaze and Aryll, backed off a little, as Toki dropped the doll in the sand of the Beach and went back 3 steps himself. He took a deep breath, like he was preparing for something. Eventually, he stretched out his arms before his body and exclaimed:

"Din's Inferno!"

The words were barely spoken, as the doll suddenly combusted in the sand-

And exploded a split-second later like a barrel of dynamite.

The blast threw all of them, both Link and Aryll, back a few meters, as a huge cloud of dark smoke emerged and slowly spread, while it was already starting to dispel again.

"Kgh… Kgh…"  
Coughing, Kaze sat up again:

"_Exploding doll_… wow…"

"At least, now we know for certain that something with this thing really _was_ wrong.", Toki stated, whipping away some dust "The spell was only supposed to burn it. The explosion just happened, because the maker of the doll probably _intended _it to blow up at one point or another. Probably with us in the middle of the blast."

"Who would try to kill us with a doll?!"

"Somebody who finds it "_Fun. Tee Hee."_, probably…"

Aryll hid behind her brother:

"But…Is it gone now?"

"That doll?... Yeah…"

Kaze took a glance at the burned spot in the sand:

"Pretty gone."

"I'm glad, your sister noticed that it was weird.", Toki stated „The goddesses know when it would have blown up otherwise… or even worse, what else it could have done."

Aryll herself still looked rather startled, as she got back onto her feet:

"Why would anybody make such a doll… that's not right!"

She looked at the spot on the ground for a few seconds, before she finally stated:

"…Also, now you two got dirty all over!"

"You too.", Toki stated, while Kaze smiled:

"And it's not that bad. It's just a little bit of soot and we need to change into the blue tunics anyway. "

He had changed into his regular tunic (which was now, of course, covered in dirt due to the explosion) again in the morning, since he didn't want to risk damaging it already before they were even leaving. This had, obviously, been a good choice.

"Ah!" In ambition, Aryll's eyes lit up: "I know! I'll go inside, get changed and get you the blue clothes then! Is this alright?"

"That'd be great, Aryll!", her brother smiled: „Thank you!"

Aryll returned his smile with the double intensity.

"Also, tell Grandma that we are about to leave. Alright?"

"Alright!", Aryll answered, as she jumped up and ran towards their house:

"I'll be back in a moment! Later!"

"Heheh…" Kaze watched his little sister get inside the house again, happy that now she was at least not worrying that much about him anymore…also…

"I was kinda surprised about how Aryll reacted to the doll. I didn't think, she'd be that sensible to something like that."

Toki nodded:

"You know, this could be the first sign that she's be going to make a good mage when she grows up."

"Aryll, a mage?"

"She was able to cast that fairy spell as well after all, wasn't she?

"Hm…"

Kaze tried to imagine his little sister as a mage and ended up with an image that looked like an illustration of a kid-witch from a children's book… And seagulls. Without seagulls, it just wasn't Aryll…

"All Hylians have potential for casting magic.", Toki now stated. "That's the only real difference to other people. But the potential is not the same for everybody and not everyone uses it. I started off with pathetic magical skills, until the Great Fairies enhanced my abilities."  
"Same here.", Kaze stated. "What is magic anyway?"

"I think, something along the lines of force-manipulation… but I never quite got it myself…"

"Oh…"

Kaze looked slightly disappointed by this shallow answer, but just accepted that the other Link didn't know either. Toki, meanwhile, crossed his arms and smiled a smile that had a hint of envy in it.

"…She's cute."

"Who? Aryll?", Kaze laughed: „Yes, I guess she is really cute. And I'm glad to have her for a sister!"

He grinned, as he seemingly remembered certain things:

"She can be a little annoying from time to time with all this energy of hers, but I wouldn't want her to be different. This place wouldn't be the same without her. And to be honest, I'm sometimes a little bit bored on our ship, without her around... For the first 12 years of my life, it was her who kept it exciting. She's a great little sister."

"You're a great big brother too."

"Ah, I don't know…"

Kaze blushed:

"I may have always been quite protective of her, but when I still lived her, I didn't always value having her around quite as much as I should have. I had a tendency to sleep outside during daytime in summer back then. But Aryll always wanted to play. She would often wake me up from such a nap, in order to get me to play with her and I'd react by playing for maybe 10 minutes, then searching for another spot and continue napping there. She didn't like this. At all. I once did this 5 times in a row during a game of hide and seek. She finally went up to me and hit me with her telescope for it. I heard bells ringing in my head for the whole evening afterwards…"

Remembering this one particularly event, he rubbed the back of his head.

Toki smiled:

"Still, it is just great how she does look up to you and how much you care for each other…"

"Didn't anybody look up to you in your time?", Kaze asked interested.

"No, not when I was a child. Especially not in Kokiri forest… I was actually one of the youngest there. If there was anybody who was looking up to someone, it was me."  
"Whom where you looking up to?"

"To…Saria…", he answered slightly embarrassed: "She was the only one who accepted me right from the beginning and wasn't turned off by me not having a fairy. Not only did the others think that you were kind of "incomplete" without one, some of them even thought that people without a guardian fairy were dangerous, because they had nothing to protect them from attracting bad luck. The worst, however, was Mido. He'd make fun of me night and day. And, of course, many of the others would always join in. It was incredibly frustrating… But Saria was different. She didn't care that I had no fairy, taught me how to play the Ocarina and showed me almost everything I needed to know to take care of myself…I guess you could say, she kind of "raised" me…"

"Raised you?"

Kaze's eyes grew wide in surprise:  
„Does that mean, she was there, ever since you were a baby? I mean… of course, they never grew up, but… How old was Saria, when you first left the forest?!"

"The Kokiri don't count years.", Toki answered. "I first encountered this concept when Rauru told me, how long I had been asleep. You have no idea how hard it was for me to grasp this whole talk about "passing time" and "becoming an adult" first. Navi had to explain it to me for 2 hours or so, before I finally got even the slightest hint of what happened to me."

"But what did you think where the adult Hylians came from before you became one yourself?"

He shrugged:

"Don't laugh… I was convinced they were born that way. I really had no idea that a Hylian child wasn't the exact same thing as a Kokiri. And I had even less of a clue what a "month" or a "year" were supposed to be. Sun up – it's day; Sun down – it's night. That's what my understanding of time was like before all of this happened."

"I can't really imagine that…", Kaze stated "I always found this all to be a matter of course, just like…"

"…just like that fact that the world is made up of islands in the sea, huh?"

Kaze looked up in surprise when he realized that Toki was right about that statement…

"Really, the way one views the world completely depends on the circumstances he or she grew up in.", he explained "That's why I would have been absolutely lost without Navi. The world beyond the forest was something completely new to me and I knew absolutely nothing about it. And the sudden age-up made everything even worse. For the first few days after that, I was absolutely dependent on her guidance, in order not to snap. Of course, she overdid it sometimes. But she only meant the best. She tended to be annoying… but she was also smart and kind. The smartest and kindest fairy I ever knew…"  
"Apropos fairy…"

Kaze turned around and seamed to search the environment for something with his eyes:

"I didn't see Eyne for a while now… I wonder where she went."

Toki's eyes widened abruptly, when he heard Kaze saying this. Of course… Eyne…

"Kaze! There's something I need to tell you!"

„Huh?"

He turned towards Toki:

"What?"

"It's about Eyne… I think, it would be best, if we…"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Wait, wait, wait for me!!!"

Like hitting the break at full speed (except with no vehicle and in air), the dark blue dot of light, which suddenly descended from above, abruptly came to a halt right between the two boys. Eyne gasped:

"Ah… S-sorry for taking so long!! I didn't want to hold you u—Huh? What happened to our clothes?"

"Oh, just a failed attempt at our lives.", Kaze answered.

"Huh?! W-What?!"

"Don't worry, we're fine! Right, Toki?"

Toki didn't answer immediately. Instead, he gave the little fairy a rather skeptical look:

"…

… Where've you been?"

"Me?... Oh! Heheh…"

Eyne seemed ashamed:

„I was up at the fairy fountain in the forest… Trying to gather some new information… And also bathing in the fountain to relax a little. I can't really cope with all this stress going on recently…sorry!"

"It's OK.", Kaze said „You're not used to all this, so I guess it's OK when you take some time for yourself. It's not a problem."

"…Yes.", Toki looked away: „…Not a problem at all…"  
But his eyes were saying the exact opposite- which Kaze was quick to realize:

"Huh?"

Kaze turned towards him:

"Say, is something wrong?"

"Are you alright?", Eyne asked him somewhat worried: "It's because you two didn't get enough sleep tonight, isn't it?"

"No… _I'm_ alright, really…"

The emphasis on "I'm" just confused Kaze, causing him to whisper:  
"There's something you're not saying…"

"Would you… please excuse us for a moment… Eyne?"

A puzzled look crossed her face:  
"Uhm… you mean, so you two can talk alone?... Alright, if you want it... I guess."

"Thank you."

Without any further words, Toki grabbed Kaze by his arm and pulled him behind the next tree he found on the beach. He then peeked back at the spot they came from:

"Is she listening?"

"No, she said she was gonna leave us alone, didn't she?" in confusion, Kaze took Toki by the shoulder: "Seriously, what is the matter with you all of the sudden?"

"OK… please listen to me now… I am serious…"

Toki looked directly into Kaze's eyes:

" I don't think we should take Eyne to the water temple with us."  
"Huh? Why not?"  
Kaze didn't seem to understand this at all:

"Wasn't she quite useful in the other temples yet?"

"Please, don't get this wrong… But I don't trust her at all!", Toki stated with a dead serious look on his face "There is something wrong with this fairy. Believe me, I can tell. I don't quite know what, but I don't think we should risk anything."

Kaze shook his head:

"She has been with us in the previous two temples as well and nothing bad happened! Actually, we wouldn't have been able to unlock the sanctuaries without her help, would we? Also, the fairy queen ordered her to help us. What will she feel like when we deny her to keep doing this? She's easy to upset anyway…"

"Exactly!", Toki started gesticulating wildly: "Look, I've had Navi with me, I've had Tatl with me. They were both completely different from each other, but one constant between them and pretty much every other fairy I ever met was, that they were proud of being fairies! They _liked _who they were and when any limitations bugged them, they just got me to help them out! But this fairy has…there's no other way to say it… _complexes_! Did you notice how she behaved when you made this comment about that spell? How she behaves pretty much anytime we ask her about her abilities? She is…Fairies are… not supposed to act like that!"  
"I'd find it hardly fair of us to just throw her out of the team now, all of the sudden!", Kaze argued: "Would you?"  
"No, of course not, but I saw…"

He stopped abruptly…

"I just think, that her behavior is weird!"

Toki wasn't saying everything and Kaze knew it. He could tell it by the way he looked. But he choose not to ask him what else he wanted to say. Maybe Toki was right and there was something about Eyne they should know before taking her anywhere else… However… What if they encountered any kind of puzzle again, where they needed to be able a high up fence, like in the fire temple's sanctuaries? And, after all, everything had worked out until now… Also, Eyne was their friend after all. Telling her to stay behind would, even taking all of this into account, be just unfair.

"Look… we'll keep an eye on her, OK?"

He tried to sound convincing:

"And in the case that anything weird happens, we'll act right away…agreed?"

Toki doubted a moment, before he turned his head towards the sky, considered a moment and finally nodded:

"Agreed…"

Yeah… this was probably the best. But not because Toki was the same opinion as Kaze. No… his final decision was caused by something rather different.

If they left this fairy behind here now, they'd have no way to control what she was doing. This way, he could keep her under observation. This way, he could make sure that he knew of absolutely everything she was doing or trying to do. And maybe, he'd find out who the person she had talked to had been...

The blue light…It had been her voice. He was sure. And even if Kaze was trusting this fairy…

Sometimes it was better to doubt than to trust.

* * *

"…So that's it…"

"Uhuh…"

"Once we jumped off this cliff, we'll get to the temple…"

"Uhuh…"

"We've got no idea if those tunics really work…."

"Uhuh…"

"The water is darn deep…"

"Uhuh…"

"Argh! Stop saying „Uhuh" all the time!!", Kaze finally exclaimed. "You're making me nervous!!"

"Hey, I'm just trying not to think about drowning, OK?!", Toki returned „Also, you listing everything that probably could go wrong isn't exactly encouraging either!"

"Could you two please just cut this out and jump?!?!", Eyne shouted, gesturing wildly: "We're wasting time!!"

"Hey, hey, calm down!", Kaze returned to her in surprise: "Don't shout at us like this! Unlike you, _we_ need air to survive!"

"Air won't save you from the APOCALYPSIS!!"

„Ouch!"

Kaze covered his ears with his hands in pain:

"Seriously, cut it out! What's the matter with you to-- …Hm?"

This was when Kaze realized… the way that Toki was looking at Eyne right now. There was an expression on the other boy's face, which Kaze had not seen before. Eyes slanted, the whole face in a certain tension… It looked, like he was trying to pierce right through the fairy with his eyes.

She, however, took no notice of this.

"I am sorry, if I push you, but it's almost noon and you haven't entered the temple yet!"

"It's only 10 am.", Kaze argued after turning back to her.

"Yeah! Almost noon!"

Kaze sighed:

„Alright…Let's do this now."

Toki let his eyes of Eyne and nodded.

Both of them took just one last deep breath. They took each other's hand, so they wouldn't get separated…

And jumped.

A loud "SPLASH!" accompanied their fall, as they told the air "Bye Bye" and entered the cold waters of the Great Sea…

They sunk a few meters, before the movement down stopped. As Kaze started to feel like floating, he carefully opened his eyes…

A little bit… a bit more…

When he finally got them open, he was surprised to find that the salt didn't sting them. He took a look around…

The sun's light, broken by the surface of the water above him, reflected on the ground of the ocean and all the rock formations and plant life down there… it looked a little bit like a prism.

How cool...

With a pull on his hand, Toki got Kaze's attention, causing him to turn his head towards him.

Just like Kaze himself, he still had his cheeks full of the air he breathed in just before the jump. He now looked at Kaze in an asking manner and Kaze understood and nodded. With their fingers, they started to count down.

3…

2…

1…

Carefully, the boys released the air from their mouths and tried to breathe in again…

Kaze was already preparing for the painful feeling of getting saltwater into your lungs, but he was worrying for nothing:

Nothing happened. It was exactly like breathing air. Not the slightest difference. He glanced over to Toki and realized that he must have gotten the same result. He was even laughing.

Relieve.

Kaze tried to say „It actually worked!", but instead of sounds, a swell of bubbles emerged from his mouth. It seemed like Toki wanted to comment on this, but this only resulted in yet another swell of bubbles. Shrugging, the two boys decided to take a look around instead…

"!!"

With an overdone gesture, Toki pointed towards a few corals near the cliff of the island. Pink, just as Aryll described them. They swam over and soon spotted a small doorway made of stone. The Triforce was engraved on it.

The two Links looked at each other, nodded and swam through. They dived through the tunnel, kept swimming and swimming… finally, a light from above became visible. The end of the tunnel.

Finally.

Quickly, they turned upwards and drew nearer to the surface of the water.

"HU!"

Toki was the first to reach it, raise his head out of the water and take a deep breath of "real" air. Kaze quickly followed and the first thing he did once he got his head out of the water, was to shake his head rapidly, in order to the get his hair free of the tons of water it had soaked up. Toki quickly shielded himself with his hands.

"Ah… Well, that was surprisingly easy!", Kaze stated, as they got out of t he water.

"Don't celebrate too soon", Toki warned him "This wasn't even the beginning. _Now_ we get to the real work."

Kaze was still trying to get his hair, as well as his hat a little bit dryer, as Toki already started to proceed through the short tunnel before them. Confused by his statement, Kaze followed him after putting his hat back on.

He soon realized that trying to get his hair dry was probably useless in here anyway…

They entered the main hall of the temple:

A giant water pool…

Kaze's eyes widened:  
„WOAH! So that's the…"

"Yeah. The Water Temple.", Toki answered. There was a whole lot less enthusiasm in his voice, than there was in Kaze's.

"Awesome!!"

"Interesting: Yes.

Awesome: Hell No.", was Toki's immediate answer, which earned him a blank look by Kaze.

Toki sighed… The other boy didn't even have the slightest clue, did he?

"Can you see this sign on the wall over there? The one with the Triforce in the Center?"

He pointed at a nearby wall and explained:

"If you play or sing the Lullaby of Princess Zelda there, the water level of the whole temple changes. Most of the doors are blocked, once they are covered in water, but conversely, you need a certain water level in here to even reach most of them. Therefore, you have to play the song in the right place at the right time. To make matters worse, making one false decision with adjusting the water level can force you to go back and start all over again. This temple might not look like it on the first glance, but it's actually the most complicated maze I've ever been to."

"Oh… That doesn't sound good…"

"Not at all.", Toki agreed. "But don't worry. I've been through this place before."

"So you still remember the exact way through?"

"Uhm…"

Toki blushed a little, as he looked up to the ceiling and admitted:

"…Well I remember.. a little… a tiny little bit…yeah…"

"Great…."

Kaze sighed. He threw a look at the numerous doors and corridors visible from their current spot alone:

"…Searching this whole place can take days…"

"Well, then get started right now!!"  
Eyne. As always in the least appropriate moment with the most inappropriate voice:

"We don't have days left, you know!! You have to hurry, hurry, hurry and—huh!!"

Toki had grabbed her by her wings. She was already starting to apologize:

"OK, sorry, I'll stop already, I just wanted to—"

That's when she realized, that he wasn't talking to her… but the look he gave her…

This focused, piercing, almost hostile look. Like he was trying to look right through her. She shivered…

"Do you know the way through the temple?", he finally asked in a cold voice.

"…N…N-No…"

"Keep your mouth shut then. We'll mind our problems, you yours. Understood?"

He placed the emphasizes very clearly, so it was impossible not to understand how serious he was about this.

"U-Understood..."

"Fine."

He let go of her wings. Intimidated, she escaped his view as quickly as possible and fled under Kaze's hat. He could feel her trembling under it.

Kaze whispered to Toki:

"Uhm… wasn't that a little… harsh?"

But the other boy didn't answer this question. Instead, he approached the sign on the wall, pulled out his Ocarina and played the soft melody, that Kaze recognized as the song that Tetra used to sing on the reeling every evening…

"Uhh… Is he looking?"

Those words came from inside Kaze's hat. He first wanted to shake his head to answer, but when he realized that Eyne wouldn't be able to see this (or at least recognize correctly) he whispered:

"No, not anymore…"  
"Ah…"  
Eyne got out of her hiding place again, still shaking all over:

"I-I'm scared… did you see the way he was looking at me…? What's the matter with him today…?"

Her timid voice was trembling just as much as her body as she said this.

Kaze tried to calm her down:

"I'm sure, he's just nervous as well… Once this all is over, he will…-"

He stopped this sentence and decided to replace it with another one quickly:

"…Also, if we are right, this is going to be the last temple and the last one is always the one prone to attract the most problems. That's like a law."

"B-But still… the way he was looking at me… was like… Ahh…"

She suddenly clung to one of Kaze's bangs of hair:

"I did something wrong, didn't I? P-Please help me!"

"Uhm…"

He tried to sound calm:

"It's not your fault really. He's just trying to be caref—huh?"

Kaze then suddenly looked at Eyne, who was still really close to his face, in a curious way.

She reacted by asking:  
"…What?"

"I just noticed… say, is there a reason one of your earrings is Pur—uhm, no, looking closer, it actually red… why is one of your earrings red? That kinda sticks out. Especially with the other one being blue, like everything else about you."  
"Oh—"  
Eyne immediately looked up, but then lowered her head again. She touched both of her earrings with her hands:  
"Ah… it looks kind of weird. But I can't really take them off. I got them from… someone…"

"A friend?"

"Friend?—Uh, yeah… Probably…"

…Probably?

How could she not know?

Just as Kaze was still thinking about possible reasons for this, the last note of the song was being played. Suddenly, the ground started shaking.

"Whoa!"

"Kya~!!"

Eyne fled under Kaze's hat again, as he just barely managed to hold his balance. When he finally could concentrate on his environment again, he noticed that the water level within the temple had suddenly risen significantly.

"OK, we can go on now.", Toki stated. He got ready to jump into the water pool in the center of the room.

"Are you coming?"

"Uhm… Yeah."

Kaze followed him… but was secretly wondering:

Just why was Toki suddenly being so cold to Eyne? What happened? Once again, Kaze felt like he was the only one missing an important piece of information. He hated this feeling. But what was much more important was, that apparently Toki wasn't caring the least bit for Eyne's feelings anymore. Which was completely uncharacteristic for him. Given how he treated even strangers… Eyne was their friend! They declared so all together, not too long ago… What made him suddenly change his mind? Towards a fairy, of all types of being? Toki liked fairies, it was easy to tell by the way he talked about them in general… so, again, why was he being so unfriendly to Eyne all of the sudden?

Kaze didn't understand.

* * *

"Argh!"

Just barely, she escaped the swell of water shooting towards her through the narrow tunnel, by climbing up a nearby fence. She sat down there and froze in place…

Finally, the water stopped and became calm again. She sighed:

"Close one…"

Her eyes wandered over the surface of the water beneath her:

"The level changed… Even though I didn't do anything."  
She tightly enclosed the white baton in her hand…

"This means…I'm no longer alone here… "

The girl closed her eyes and declared:

"I ought to be careful."

_---Note_

_Now, let's play: Who's the girl in the last part?! ;-D_

_Because you all already know, since it is obvious! Hurray!_

_I want to apologize for a huge mistake that was there in the last chapter, when I first uploaded it: Mentioning the Wind Waker, when it could not have been there. This was pure stupidity on my part and, in fact, not present in the german version. Please excuse me, I corrected the mistake right when it was pointed out to me. *bow*  
_

_There are times when I'm actually translating this fanfic in the sense of "translating the German sentences into their closest English equivalents." Then, there are times where I'm changing so much, that it barely can be called a "translation" anymore. This chapter is definitely the latter case. _

_If there was an "episode-comparison"-like "Total dialogue retained" score, it would be somewhere around 40% or something. Also, in the original version, this chapter was just a little more than half as long as here. That's because I re-added a scene from the first draft, which I cut from the final German version for some stupid reason I can't remember and expanded on it. I also added other stuff. Like the exploding doll. Which I, by the way, have decided to call "Dynamite Darky". Buy one! ^^_

_And, yeah, nothing here just happens at random, because, thanks to being already much farther with the German version, know exactly what is gonna happen when. So everything has it's right to be there and its meaning._

_The part where Aryll says "I like you the best" was difficult to translate. Similar to Japanese, there are several ways to say "I love you" in German, all showing varying levels of affection. The original sentence here was "Ich hab dich so lieb!!" which's literal translation would either be "I love you a lot!" or (even more literally) "I hold you very dear!" but the first one didn't sound like sibling-love and the second sounded to formal (which is very ironic, since the German sentence is pretty much as informal as you can get). Therefore I decided to take a different approach and came up with "I like you the best." Corny, I know, but some lines just don't translate as well as you would hope they do. _

_The imaginary image of adult Aryll waiting for her brother in despair, I like to call:_

"_Hachiko Aryll". _

_For those who don't know, Hachiko was a dog in Tokyo who kept waiting for his owner at the station every day, even after the owner had long died. He thus became a symbol of waiting and undying love/loyalty and there's even a statue of that dog in Tokyo._

_Incidentally, they latter found out that Hachiko only kept coming because there was a wiener stand with a generous owner nearby…_

_So much for "undying love". _

_Anyway, one day I'm gonna draw waiting, adult Aryll. I just want too._

_I'm not saying anything about Toki's suspicions, because I want to see you guess around wildly. _

_Thank you. _

_Read ya latter! ^^_


	27. Unexpected

Chapter 26:

Unexpected

"I'll take the one right! "

"Alright!—Watch out, behind you! "

"Ha? Oh- Take that!!"

"Got it!"

"Look out! HA!"

A precise strike sealed the fate of the spider-like being before them, as it sunk down to the ground and stopped moving forever. Satisfied Toki put his sword back into its scabbard and let a short smirk cross his face, before he turned to Kaze:

"Thank you, your reaction was great! I really didn't notice that thing behind me."

"Welcome! Heh…" Kaze seemed somewhat proud of the praise he got, as he quickly rubbed his nose with his finger: "Our teamwork is getting better too, huh?"

Toki nodded:  
"Yeah, it sure is. Alright… Anyway…"

A wooden chest in the corner of the room had attracted his attention long ago, so he now approached it, opened it and longed inside:

"Say hello to… Mr. Key!"

Triumphing, Kaze pulled the little metal tool out of the chest and held it up into the air, as like to present it to the world.

"Perfect!"

Toki went up to his side:

"After, like – what? - 3 chests with nothing but rupees…" He shook his purse with one hand, as to signal that at very least their money problems where dealt with. "… it was about time we found this one! This means…"  
Longing with one hand into his pocket, he got out a detailed map of the temple's interiors:

"…that we finished almost every door in this storey yet! Good! If we keep up this pace, we should be through in a few hours!"

A second quick move, like reversing the one that he used to pull out the map, and said map was back in the bag again, safely stored. Toki gestured into a certain direction:  
"Come! I think I know where we have to go next."

"Alright."

They ran down the corridor, back to the main hall, not knowing that a surprise was waiting there for them. When said surprise however made itself known to them at the end of the corridor, their jaws dropped as this was definitely something that should not have happened.

"The water level changed!"

Kaze leaned own to look at the water, which now only reached about half as high as it did before, as a small stone he accidently moved and caused to fall down, taking 5 seconds to reach the surface of the water with a silent splashing sound, beautifully illustrated.

"How did that happen? Toki, did you play the song anywhere?"

Toki just shook his head in utter confusion:

"I didn't. Something else must have caused the water to drain!"  
„But what? "

„Dunno…"

„Uhm…"  
Kaze had a bad feeling about this. If the water drained and rose again just at random now, they would have no control over where they could go or not… Also…

"We're just above the entrance, aren't we? ...If we jump down now, we will not be able to return to this storey that easily. And it took us hours to get up here…"

"Hm… maybe we can at least take care of this problem… wait a second!"

Once again, Toki longed into his bag and pulled out a crystal with a green pearl in the middle:

Concentrated and calm, he held it before his body and uttered a single word, which Kaze couldn't understand. All of the sudden, it lit up. The crystal shell burst open, revealing the green pearl, which's shine encased the area in a sphere of light for a few seconds and finally stuck in midair, levitating there like a star in the night sky…

"Well…"  
The crystal shell had reassembled to a full crystal in Toki's hands, but the pearl was missing from it. He stored it in his bag:

"Now we can use Farore's Wind to return here whenever we need. "

"Oh, I get it! A teleportation spell, right? That's an awesome idea!"

Kaze's comment caused Toki to blush:  
„Well, actually it wasn't my idea. The fairy who gave it to me told me, I could use it to escape from difficult situations, but since I'm not exactly a fan of running away I thought it to be useless. It was Navi who pointed this other use of the spell out to me, when I first was here."

"No matter whose idea it was, it's perfect!" Eyne remarked, suddenly emerging from under Kaze's hat. As soon as she was visible, the shining smile on her face was the most attention seeking thing about her. In fact, she looked a little overly-cheerful.

"So, you can return here in case something happens?"

"… Yeah."

Eyne's sudden happiness only added to Toki's confusion… but not necessarily to his suspicions.

In fact, it went against them. This, most definitely, was not the reaction he would have expected now… And apparently, Eyne realized this:

"Oh! I mean…" She tried to sound a little calmer than before: "You won't have to worry about making wrong choices now, right? This will save us plenty of time. Heheh."

"You're really obsessed with us making it through her as quickly as possible, aren't you?" Kaze asked with a sigh that seemed to state: 'Gimme a break'.

"Sure!" she answered "Every second counts, counts, counts!!!"

There was no use arguing with this fact.

The two boys quickly exchanged glances, before they took each other's hand and jumped down into the pool of water, sinking momentarily but emerging on the surface just a few seconds later.

"Puh…And now?" Kaze ask, after he spat out a mouth full of water he accidently almost swallowed.

"Hmm…"

Calmly floating on the water's surface, Toki took a careful look all around, before he declared:

"I think… over there!"

He pointed towards a corridor on the other side of the room. It was on a fence a little higher up, but easily to reach using a hookshot.

"Uhm… Will I have to hold on to your back…? ", Kaze asked, when Toki was already getting the tool out of his bag: „Because, that would feel a little stupid…"  
"Oh! Your hookshot was among the things stolen from your ship, right? ", Toki realized.

Kaze just nodded.

With a smile Toki shook his head:  
„Don't worry, I got a spare one! "

"You do?" Kaze asked in surprise.

"Here!"

Toki passed him the second Hookshot. It looked vastly different from the one he himself carried on himself though. A little bit weird, one might say.  
Kaze examined the tool in curiosity.

"I got this one from Termina." Toki stated. "Use it as long as you need."

"Alright! Thank you!" Kaze replied and smiled.

Toki was the first to reach the fence, using the hookshot, Kaze the second. Satisfied, Toki put the hookshot back into his bag and stated:  
"This is going surprisingly smoothly! And onwa—"

"Eh… Problem."

I took Toki less than 5 seconds to realize, what kind of "Problem" Kaze was referring to and this realization immediately caused his smile to fade. Kaze, still carrying the hookshot in one hand, stood right before a huge pile of rocks.

Which was relevant, because said pile was blocking the whole corridor.

The corridor was collapsed. Completely and utterly blocked.

Cue gulping.

„Oh no…"

Toki tried to stay calm, but it was visibly hard for him:

"This is bad… pretty bad. I remember this corridor… and we totally _need _to get through there. Without it… we are stuck!"

"No…"

Kaze took a look around, but there was absolutely no way through:

"Argh! How can we get those rocks out of the way…Oh!"

Suddenly, something occurred to Kaze and he longed into his bag, but Toki, realizing what he was up to, stopped him:  
"No!"

He pulled the other boys arm out of the same's bag:

"The ceiling is already unstable enough here! If you bomb the heap away, the whole corridor will collapse!"

"Oh!"

Kaze quickly closed his bag again.

"What to do then… hm…"  
His eyes wandered over to the fairy, which was hovering closely to his head in a nervous state.

"Eyne, can't you figure out some way to get through there?", he asked in a hopeful tone- Hopeful also, because Eyne helping them would probably restore some of Toki's trust in her. At least Kaze, well, hoped so.

"Me? Hm… Well…"

She approached the heap and examined it carefully from all sides. Finally, she found a hole, big enough for her to fit through. She disappeared through it, to the other side, but returned just a few seconds latter:

"Well, I can't find any other way in there--the rest of the corridor is still OK, though!"

"That doesn't help, when we can't get there…", Kaze stated somewhat unmotivated, while Toki had already started to work on an idea:

"Hm... but she got through that hole."

"Yeah.", Eyne nodded "It's not that narrow. I just had to squeeze through a little bit."

"This means, fairies fit through…"

When Kaze heard Toki mumbling this, he realized what his friend was up to:

"Wait, you mean… I get it! If Eyne fits through there, we might too, if we were fair-„

He cut off mid-word when he realized just _what _exactly he was actually talking about. His eyes widened, as he backed off in slight shock:

"No."

He backed off even farther and started waving his hands before his body rapidly and shaking his head:

"No, No, No, No, _NO! _I won't… You won't get me to… I will _not_ use that spell!"

"Do you think we even had a choice?", Toki asked "It is the only way for us to get past this blockade!"

Kaze felt like crying:

"But I can barely _move _in that form! How are we supposed to get anywhere, if we use it? Besides, you heard what Eyne said about that crystal yesterday: If we use it on both of us, it will block us out from casting the counter spell and we'll have to wait till the time runs out, before we can return to normal!"  
"Yeah… it could be a problem if you encountered monsters like this.", Eyne agreed.

"See?! You know, I'm not really keen on encountering an Octoroc, while being barely three inches tall and unarmored!"

"There are no Octorocs in this temple."

"That's not the point!"

Toki sighed:

"I repeat: Do we have choice?"

"…"

Kaze said nothing. After a few moments, Toki asked further:

"Or do you have any other ideas?"  
"Ahh… fine…"  
Kaze sighed and closed his eyes:

"Who of us is doing it?"  
"I'll need my magic energy for casting Farore's Wind again, if we need it once more.", Toki stated. "You'll have to."

"Great." Kaze seemed to dislike the idea even more now: „This could go wrong. The only "true" spell I casted before was the magic armor…"

"Your sister managed to too, didn't she?", Eyne asked, obviously trying to lift his spirit a little. "Just try it!"

Kaze sighed one last time:

„Alright… let's get this over with."

Listless, he longed into his bag and got out the crystal with the dreaded fairy spell. Oh, how great his joy was in this very moment…

He raised the thing above his head and started muttering:

"…How did Aryll do that again…? Oh yes, she raised it and then said… stuff… something along the lines of "Kuru"--- something…"

He thought about it for a moment:

"Kurura… Kururo… Ah, now I got it… I think it was "_Kururinpa_"---Wha!"

He had barely muttered the word, as the crystal suddenly lit up in a bright, white light, enclosing both him and Toki. The magic started doing its work right away.

Less than 5 seconds later, the boys had taken on the form of two small fairies with dragonfly-like wings.

"Whoa!"

And already, Kaze had lost his balance again. Against his will, his wings caused him to move in a pattern that would have made it likely for him to be mistaken for world's first hovering, glowing spinning top, rather than a fairy.

"H-H-HELP!"

"Heheh! Gottcha!"

It was Toki who stopped his involuntary movement by taking Kaze by his hand. A short sigh of relieve by the latter followed:

"Whew… thanks –Hey!"

That's when Kaze noticed _who _wasn't having any problems with controlling the movement of his wings. For the record, it was Toki.

"You can fly correctly?"

"Yeah, seems like it. Heheh…"

Kaze's reaction to this was plastered with envy:

"Why?! Why you and not me?!"

"Because you're trying to force it all the time!"

Eyne came up to him and tried to help him to get into a better position:

"Look, flying is something that has to be done naturally! As naturally, as walking! Ever since you first realized that you were in the air, you've been trying to force your movements into the right direction, like you were nervous or afraid, whereas he just stays calm and does what comes to him. It's very obvious that you're insecure about the situation, you know?"

"Hey! I'm not insecure! And I'm also never afraid!", Kaze suddenly claimed "Or--- at least not very often!"

"Take it a bit easier and it will work, trust me!", Eyne tried to say with a calm voice (which failed, because her voice just isn't calm)

Kaze just made a desperate attempt to change his position a little and almost ended up losing his balance again:

"Argh! But how am I supposed to take it easy, when I have no clue what to do?!"

Eyne placed herself right before him:

"Ok… first try, to relax your body. Don't worry about falling down. Your wings will not stop moving unless you want them to!"

"'You sure about that?"

There was serious doubt in his voice.

"Just try it!"

"Uhm…"

Carefully, Kaze tried to just hover in place, without moving to much or stressing even a single muscle:

"…Like this…?"

"Yes, exactly! And now, if you want to move, lean forward just a little bit and try to control the direction you're going by moving your legs in the opposite direction!"

"Just like this, right?"  
Toki had fun by circling around both Kaze and Eyne, fly loops and round it up with a somersault in mid-air.

"Ta Dah!"

"Showoff.", was Kaze's only reaction to this.

But Toki just grinned and shook his head a little:

"No, it's not that hard, really! You just have to try it!"

"Uhm…"  
Kaze leaned forward a little.

"And now?"

"You have to move your wings with a little bit more power! So the air is really pressed away!", Eyne explained. Kaze nodded and tried to follow the instruction. After a short moment, he actually started to move forward:  
"Ah--- It works! It actually works!"

As he started getting faster, a slight, childish giggle of joy escaped him, just before he suddenly heard Eyne shout:

"Left, LEFT!"  
That's when Kaze realized that he was head-on flying right into the rock pile before them. In the very last second, he pulled his legs right, causing flying direction to change. He managed to still elegantly avoid the collision with the massive junks of rock. A proud smile crossed his face:  
"I did it!! Hey, guys! Guys, I can fly!!!"

Suddenly…

Suddenly this was _fun._ A lot of more fun than gliding with the Deku-Leaf. He had absolute control, could go any direction he wanted, up and down and left and right…

Soon he started getting a little overly enthusiastic, almost nose-diving right into a puddle of water on the floor, but stopping barely an inch above it, reaching out his arm, shortly touching the water and pulling up right again.

"That's awesome!!", he finally exclaimed: „Remember what I said about that spell before? I take everything back! Flying is so~ worth it!!"

"Not bad, not bad!", Toki said in a melodic voice. "But can you do… _this?_"

With a quick maneuver, he got behind Kaze and pushed him, before he could even react.

Surprised, the other boy fell into the puddle beneath him and Toki started to laugh:

"HA HA!"  
"Oh… You think that's funny, what?"

Kaze sat up again and grinned. Still in the puddle, he started moving his winds again. The water splashed all around and hit Toki, who quickly (but a little too late) shielded his face with his arms.

"Hey!"

"Ha-ha! Now we're even!"  
„No, we're not!"

Toki started splashing back at Kaze and Kaze splashed at Toki again. The boys started a small water fight in joyful laughter.

Causing Eyne to actually facepalm:

"Boys, that's so~ not the time for kidding around, you know?!"

"Ah, Com'on!", Kaze sighed "We're stuck like this for at least half an hour anyway, so why not kill the spare time somehow?"

Toki agreed with a smile:  
"Yeah, better progressing a little slower for now, than ending up squished by a low-class monster! Cause… that'd be kind of embarrassing, don't you think?"

He would have given her a suspicious look for her pressing them to progress faster, but he just didn't feel like it. He was having too much fun.

Eyne, however, did not seem to agree with the boys:

"B-But you can't just stay here and play around like this! You will mi—I mean, you'll… We have to hurry, you kno~w!!! You-"

"Hey…"  
Kaze (who, frankly, hadn't been listening to her at all) had caught a glance of his reflection in the water, causing him to realize a certain feature on him he didn't notice yet. He pulled the neck-cuts of his tunic and shirt down a little bit, in order to take a better look at his shoulder:

"…Since when do I have this?"

There was a green mark on his left shoulder, a symbol which seemed strangely familiar to him…

"Hm?" Toki approached the other Link in interest and leaned a little bit forward, in order to take a close look at his discovery:

"Hey… that's the symbol of echoes."

"Symbol of echoes?", Kaze asked and Toki replied with a nod:

"It's a sacred symbol, representing the goddess Farore. I've only seen it a few times yet myself though."

"Farore… Oh, I remember!" suddenly, Kaze realized why the shape seemed so familiar to him: „The same symbol was on Farore's pearl… But what does this do on my shoulder?"

"No need to worry.", it was Eyne who stated this: "Look, I got one too."

She pointed at her own shoulder, revealing that she had a blue mark there, rather different from the green one Kaze had discovered, but placed similarly.

"You probably don't know that, but every fairy is associated to a deity who corresponds to their abilities and role.", she explained "The marks are supposed to show which deity a fairy serves. It's also indirectly responsible for our colors, but that's secondary."

"Ah… Hey, you're right…", Toki took a look at his own shoulder: "The symbol of echoes again…"

"Hmm…"

Kaze was meanwhile examining Eyne's symbol a little closer:

"I know this one too… was it on… Nayru's or Din's pearl…?"

"Probably on Nayru's.", Toki stated after he covered his shoulder again and joined Kaze with his mini-investigations: "It's the symbol of cycles. It's usually used to represent her—wait…"

Then, all of the sudden and without any obvious reason, it reappeared: This tense, hostile look in Toki's eyes. He asked:

"Didn't you say you were a low-tier fairy before?"

"Uhm… yes?", Eyne displayed signed of discomfort when she was asked his question: "What about it…?"

"Nayru is one of the golden goddesses.", Toki stated "The _creator _goddesses. I don't think a fairy associated to her would be anywhere near "low-tier"."

"Huh!"

Eyne suddenly backed off a little when she heard this. Her mouth flapped and no sounds came out, but to Toki it was obvious that she must have said something among the lines of _darn it._

His eyes narrowed once again.

She had been lying about something she told them. Only a liar would become that nervous in such a situation. It was downright painfully obvious-

-Well, except to one person maybe.

"Nayru is the goddess of wisdom, right?", Kaze smiled downright cheerfully, surprising Toki a lot.

Either he was just plain ignoring the last two sentences of the conversation ever happened, or he was desperately trying to kill the direction the topic had taken, because he didn't like it. Toki guessed that the later was the case-

"I mean, I just thought it fits!", Kaze went on, preserving the smile: "I mean you _are _kind of clever, so it makes sense!"

"Uhm…"

Eyne didn't say a thing, causing the dialogue Kaze had attempted to start to end in silence right again. A silence that stayed for the following few second, before Eyne sudden flew over to the rock heap and exclaimed:  
"Come! We have to go on and hurry, hurry, hurry, you hear me!?!"

"Ouch!"

Once again, Kaze had to cover his ears with his hand:

"Her voice just hurts!-"

"She's dodging every attempt to bring her to talk about herself."

Toki's expression hadn't lighted up again yet. He turned towards Kaze:

"Do you see yet what she's trying to do?"

"I just see a nervous fairy, who is a little shy.", Kaze stated, oblivious to the facts—

Or, rather, he was trying to be oblivious to them…

"Kaze… believing in someone is not a bad thing. But I doubt that she is worth it."

"We should go on now, don't you think?"

"Listen to me-!"

"Com'on!"

Toki watched, as Kaze flew away to join Eyne, as she hastily passed through the narrow hole in the heap.

This behavior… He was trying to dodge talking about as well. Just like Eyne was lying at them, he obviously refused to believe that she was. Because she was their friend?

Toki thought about it for a moment… Kaze had told him, that he always had relied on his friends for backing him up when he needed it. Maybe this was the reason why he couldn't accept that someone whom he had called "friend" would pose any kind of danger towards them.

And actually, Toki could understand him. If their roles were switched… nothing would be different. He would have acted just the same. Would be the same-

After all, he knew very well how tempting it could be to just pretend that the things he didn't want to think about didn't exist.

* * *

"Here…"

An opened book in her right hand, which she was reading in, Zelda opened the door to the room and entered it, closely followed by Midna and sat down on the first chair she found. Midna got herself the next chair she found and placed it next to Zelda, so she could look into the book over her shoulder, as the Princess read out aloud:

"The legendary Ocarina of time—"

There was a detailed illustration of the instrument on the slightly yellowish pages of the old book. Zelda followed the text with her finger, in order to read it more precisely and faster:

"When the realm of Hyrule was still new and small in size, the first evil was already lurking in its people's hearts, waiting to take the opportunity to seize the beauty of the land. But as those dark powers started to move, heroes appeared, one after another, and slew the embodiment of those forces that treated to destroy this realm. Not all of those monsters could be slain, however, and thus they remain roaming the fields up till today, alongside the cursed ones and lost ones and the creatures who merely strive for survival."

"Evil, heroes, slaying, got it.", Midna summarized. "Now, get to the part with flute-thing, darling, hurry!"

Calmly, Zelda carried on her reading:

"As the goddesses knew, that one day the evil might grow so much, that it might seize their golden power, they started to create seals and other means of protection, to keep this horrible fate from seizing Hyrule. Among those means of protections are the legendary blade of evils bane… the spiritual stones, which are signs of the virtutes… and the sacred instruments, which's songs are meant to be prayers to the gods themselves. The mightiest of those might be the Ocarina of Time, which is said to be bestowed with the powers of Goddess of Time herself, along with the godly ability to deeply move the very heart of a being. Whoever wields this mystical flute will be granted access to magic which just might surpass the powers of the most powerful wizards the world ever saw…"

"Sounds like one pretty nice flute.", Midna stated, but she didn't quite manage to make her voice devoid of all awe after what Zelda had said, making her delivery sound a little awkward.

"There was a note added…" Zelda noticed an extra sheet of paper between the books pages and read it out as well:

"Oh blessed be this day and with my heart filled by bliss I wanted to proclaim to our realm: We have been saves, yes we have been saved. Almost had our king and queen been overthrown by the traitor from the desert, hadn't we been saved, saved by a prophecy of our godblessed princess, Zelda, the flower of our kingdom and the one, who stood by her side, the light of her prophecy, as the wise maiden called him. Playing the Ocarina of time, the light of Princesses prophecy showed our great king and wise queen the errors of their distrust in their daughter's words of wisdom, showed them the truth about the vile traitor, the fiend, Ganondorf, the king of thieves. And that light was a boy, a boy whom nobody knew, a boy whom nobody knows, a boy whom nobody will ever know, since he disappeared as quickly as he came and nobody but our princess, our godblessed princess, our king and our queen, will ever even know as much as this person's name. Truly a knight of the goddesses he must have been, yes, he may have even been the promised hero, the "Hero of Time", but we mere people of this land might never know – no- will never know, for all we can do is express our joy at our freedom. Since the boy, the light, the hero left, as quickly as he appeared and took with him the Ocarina of Time and the blessings of our Princess, our godblessed Princess Zelda, who will forever be the only one to know the whole truth."

"What's it with the 'godblessed' Princess? Is that even a word? 'Godblessed'?", Midna clearly expressed her dislike of the text's prose: "I mean… God! ... Literally."

„'Godblessed Princess' is a quote from the hyrulean anthem.", Zelda stated "In fact… the author of this note quoted a lot from hyrulean poems, legends and songs here…"

"Which just proofs further that he just sucked at writing.", Midna underlined her previous statement: "Anyway… I happened to notice that the Princess in that… something… was called "Zelda" at one point…"

"This is because all firstborn girls of my family are given that name.", Zelda stated "It is an ancient tradition that the crown-princess has to carry the name "Zelda". It is so, in order to honor one of my ancestors, who fell victim to a curse, while she was protecting our kingdom."

"Isn't that kind of confusing?"

The Princess shook her head:

"There has never been more than one crownprincess per three generations in our direct bloodlines ever since… "

"Interesting…", Midna smiled mischievously for a moment, before she clapped into her hands and eventually asked:

"Alright! Tell us, where that Ocarina is, Princess!"

"Huh? But I don't know where—"

"But it says here: Princess Zelda, who will forever be the only one to know the whole truth.", Midna stated with her smile still there.

"This does not refer to me.", Princess Zelda stated.

"Or maybe, it does.", Midna argued.

Zelda shook her head:

"How am I supposed to know something, just because one of my ancestors did? I am sorry to say this, but this goes against every logic, Midna. How is it supposed to work?"  
Midna shrugged with her unbreakable grin:

"I don't know, make something up!"

"Ah…", Princess Zelda sighed. There was just no way. How was Midna imagining that she would be able to tell the location of the Ocarina of Time? Her ancestor gave it to the Hero of Time, who then dissa-

Zelda looked up. Realization struck:

"…If Link is… really of the hero's blood…"

She blinked a few times, as it became more and more apparent to her. Finally, she formed a single word with her lips:

"…Ordon…"  
She let her eyes wander over to Link in the bed in the room's corner:

"Yes… it would be the only place where-"

She stopped abruptly, when she had taken a glance of the young men in the bed.

He had grown disturbingly pale.

"Huh!"

In shock, the Princess left the chair and let the book slip out of her hands, as she rushed over to the bed and took the young men's hand.

"Link…"

Her eyes widened in fear. Midna followed quickly:  
„What? What is going on?!"

Zelda said nothing. The hand she held was cold… Not dead, but cold…

Finally, she realized why this was:

"His life-force is not flowing correctly!", she stated "For some reason, it seems to have lost any focus and is leaking… At this rate, it won't be long before he has lost all of it and-"

Zelda fell silent for a few seconds… before the fear in her eyes was replaced by determination. She placed her right hand above Link's left one.

"Zelda!", Midna recognized this movement right away: "You're not going to use the same trick on him you cured me with, are you?!"

"Don't worry…", Hyrule's Princess stated. "I'm just giving him a little bit of my power… just enough so he will be able to hold out longer…"

She closed her eyes and concentrated, as the triangular mark on the back of her hand lit up. First softly… then a little more…

Suddenly a _lot_ more.

„…Huh?"

Before Zelda could even realize what was happening, she was thrown to the floor by a strong feedback.

"Ah-"

"Zelda!"

Midna kneeled down:

„You're alright?"

„Ah…"

Baffled, the Princess stood up again…

"I…"

She blinked twice:

"I built up much more force than I intended to…" in disbelieve, Zelda looked at her hands: "I merely wanted to transfer a small amount of energy… but I was not able to moderate it…"

She shook her head, like she thought that she probably was only imagining it:

"This has never happened before…"

"What now?", Midna asked worried.

"I managed to transfer some energy though…"

"But what if he needs more?

Zelda sighed:  
"I will try again then…"

"Don't be stupid!", Midna argued "Look we don't know what caused your magic to malfunction, but if this happens again the next time, it might get both of you into serious trouble! We really shouldn't risk this… It's better if I try next time! ... I mean I never tried healing magical of any kind before, but I-"

"Midna, you can't."

"Zelda, you, of all people, won't tell me to not—"

"No, I mean, you literally can't.", Zelda repeated: „Midna, you are a Twili. The pattern of your life-force doesn't fit onto ours. Even if you tried to heal him, there was no way to tell what kind of effects it would have."

"_You_ healed _me_!", Midna argued.

"I supported your soul from inside.", Zelda corrected. "This is very different from merely transferring life-force. Also, your life-force carries aspects that were shaped by the generations your people spent in the Twilight. Passing this kind of life-force on to a being of the light-world could have… ill-effects."

As Midna heard this (and found no way to argue with her), she turned her head away: "Darn it…"

She turned her head back again:

"But we can't let him die!"

Zelda nodded:

"However… if we manage to wake him up before the bit of energy I was able to give him runs out…" She glanced over to him "… we won't have to worry about this anymore."

"Then let's find this Ocarina!", Midna stated in absolute determination "You mentioned Link's village before… do you think it might be there?"

A nod:

"If his ancestor really had it, this is most likely the case."

"And Ilia lives in Ordon…" A smile appeared on Minda's face again: "I guess, if she gives us a tour, we might just be able to find it! So, let's pick her up from the town and go pay that village a royal visit!"

"Oh…"  
Zelda looked up in surprise:  
„Going to Ordon…? That's a little beyond Hyrule's outskirts… hm…"

She considered a moment, but finally nodded and stated:

"I will inform the ministers right away, so we can leave as soon as possible. I should be ready to go in half an hour."

* * *

"Is half an hour already over?"  
"No, just like it wasn't over 20 seconds ago!"

Kaze sighed. Really, he didn't mind being a fairy that much anymore. But he loathed sneaking. With all passion. He had loathed it in the Forsaken Fortress, as well as in the Temple of the Ocean King. Having had to do it that often ever since he first left home, he had gotten quite good at it though. Yet, he still hated it. But right now, they had no other choice. In the form of two small, unarmed fairies, there was little else they could do to avoid getting torn into shreds by the monsters lurking in the temple. Flying might have given them a bigger chance to successfully escape an eventual attack, but still they couldn't risk being caught. Also, while their wings allowed them to reach high up fences they could not have reached otherwise, they also found themselves unable to pass certain other paths, due to blocks, which they couldn't move in their current state, blocking the way.

Of course, they could have just waited till the 30 minutes were over and the spell wore off, so they would be able to progress normally again, but Eyne's continuous pushing them to hurry up was incredibly hard to ignore… Eyne.

Kaze sighed. Of course he knew that Toki was right. Eyne was keeping some kind of secret from them…

But… She was their friend. She was putting so much faith into them, so...

"…Hey! It's _that_ room!"

Surprised, Kaze looked over to Toki, who was already floating in the very center of the room, stating:

"That's where Ruto first showed herself to me in this temple… this means, we're pretty near to the last room! Wow! I didn't think we'd progress that fast!"

Kaze came up to him. There was a door on the other side of the room. He pointed at it and asked:

"So, if we pass through the keyhole there, we are almost there?"

"Wrong!", Toki surprisingly answered. As a puzzled look appeared on Kaze's face, Toki pointed up, above their heads:

"The sanctuary is this way!"

It was just then, that Kaze noticed that the ceiling was quite high up and that there were a lot of fences to climb onto on the way there, many of them probably leading to other corridors.

"Wow! How do you usually get up there?"

"Complicated flooding and draining sequence.", Toki stated „Which we don't need to do now, since we can fly at the moment! How convenient, Heheh…"

He flew up to the ceiling, waving at Kaze:

"Come, this way!"

Both, Eyne and Kaze, followed quickly. Getting to the highest storey was a true piece of cake with their wings. Toki proceeded through the next door's keyhole and the two others quickly followed.

When all of them had arrived in the room behind, Toki gave Kaze a satisfied smirk:

"Getting up here that quickly… Thanks to that spell we're breaking records, my friend!"

"Yeah. Still, I'm worried about what might happen if we stumble across some monster…"

"What could possibly happen?"

Just when Kaze wanted to open his mouth to remind Toki what happened last time he said this, the question, unfortunately for them, answered itself:

In form of a beam of fire approaching them with an alarming accuracy and speed.

"DODGE!", Eyne shouted and the boys quickly dashed out of the way. Just in time; One second more and their fate would have been that of two campfire marshmallows.

"What…" In confusion, Toki turned towards the room's center and immediately spotted the source of the fire beam:

A trio of robed, floating beings, hiding their faces under a weird kind of masks.

"Wizrobes!", Kaze exclaimed "Out of all kind of monsters we could come across! Magic is hard to dodge, regardless the way you move!"

That moment, they heard the loud sound of something heavy hitting the floor, signalizing that a stone wall was coming down before the door behind them.

"Sealed again!", Toki exclaimed, as he turned around and found what they feared to be true.

He gulped as he realized that Kaze had been right worrying about something like that happening…

This very moment, another beam of fire targeted the group.

"Whoa!"

Just with a whole lot of luck they were able to escape it.

"How long will we be able to dodge this?!", Kaze shouted "I want my sword and shield back!"

"Where did those Wizrobes even come from!?"

Toki looked more perplexed than worried: "I'm sure, there were none of those here the last time I was in this temple!"

"She…", Eyne suddenly whispered.

Kaze heard it regardless and turned towards her:

"Who?"

"Ah—I said nothing!"

But he heard her. This time, he couldn't ignore it. She was about to mention someone… But there were more urgent issues right now, so he couldn't think too much about this now anyway.  
Dodging the next spell.

And the next one and the next.

Kaze gasped when, once again, the fire just barely missed him. How much longer would the transformation last? He didn't know if he could keep on maneuvering through the flying flames like this—

"Ah!"

Toki rolled in midair and managed to someone escape from a spell that would have almost certainly hit him. His back was starting to hurt and he strongly suspected that this was due to him suddenly using a set of muscles that normal people normally never had to use in everyday life that intensively. He never thought that flying could end up being that tiring. If he got out of this alive, he'd have to congratulate every fairy he met and give them a medal for moving around this way for their whole lives, as opposed to merely 30 minutes… When were those darn 30 minutes finally over?! He knew that it had to be any second now, but the moment just wouldn't come, like time suddenly slowed down just to tease them.

"What do we do now?!", Kaze finally asked him, when the two of them ended up near to each other again: "I can't go on like this forever! If the spell doesn't wear off soon, we're done for!"

Even though their faces were covered, the Wizrobes looked strangely aggressive and eager to finally hit their targets with their spells…

Exhausted, Toki wiped away a little bit of sweat from his face:

"I don't know… No, wait!" Something came to him „Farore's Wind! I can get us back to the Main Hall with it!"

Kaze looked up:

"Yes…"

In excitement he faced Toki:

"Do it! Quick!!"

"Alright!"

Toki already longed for the empty crystal-shell among the things he still had on him. He, however, failed to notice that the next beam of fire was already approaching. It was when the flames were just a meter away, that he finally saw them.

"Huh!"

"Toki!!"  
Kaze dashed, grabbed his hand and tried to pull him out of the way, but even so, it was too late. Their attempt to dive down in the very last moment failed and they both felt the heat of the fire for a short moment, before they lost control over their wings and fell to the hard ground.

Immediately, they tried to rise again, but Toki fell down again after the first few flaps and Kaze failed right when he tried to move the wings again: Unlike Toki, he actually burned his back, rather than just the wings. He then gritted his teeth, just so he wouldn't have to scream. The pain of trying to take off again was burning hotter than the flames that initially caused it.

"Argh…"

He noticed how the light he was emitting was growing less intense… obviously a bad sign.

When the Wizrobes then started circling him and Toki the same way vultures circle dead meat, the boys gulped. The tried to back off… but there was nowhere they could have backed off to…

Was that… it?

Kaze closed his eyes.

"_Sacred Light!!_"

One of the Wizrobes screamed.

Kaze opened his eyes again, just in time to see it explode in a shower of dazzling light beams. Perplexed, they watched as a second and third arrow shot through the room, hitting the remaining to monsters and bestowing the same fate onto them as the first one.

"Light arrows?", Toki asked himself in surprise, while Kaze rubbed his eyes for a moment, as if to check that he wasn't dreaming:

"But… who…?"

As the whole room illuminated in the sparkling shine of the arrows and the high pitched death-cries of the two monsters pierced the boy's ears, they looked up to the direction the arrows came from.

Near one of the doors to the room, they spotted the archer:

It was a girl. A young girl, standing there with calm, yet determined eyes. Her long, flowing, golden hair was shining in the shower of holy light, as she was still holding the bow in her hand, ready to shoot another arrow, if necessary. A truly imposing image-

On second glance, however—

Kaze opened his eyes wide.

No. It couldn't be.

The aura of light around the archer finally faded.

He gulped.

Yes, it could be.

"Hm…"

The girl took a few steps into the room:

"Nothing in here? Huh? No chest, no switch, no nothing? What did I crack that seal on the door for then? Ah… what a waste of time…"

Just when she wanted to sigh, a high pitched sound reached her ears

"Hey!!"

"Huh?"

A confused look around resulted from this...

"Was there… a voice just now?"

"We're down here!"

Down…

In surprise, the girl turned her head downwards and looked all around the ground… till she finally spotted a pair of green fireflies on the grou-

Wait a minute. Fireflies are not green.

…

_GREEN?!_

…That voice…

"What the…"  
She ran a few steps towards the middle of the room and could finally make out what was there beneath the light. The shape of—

She rubbed her eyes:

"No way…"

From down on the ground, a smiling face looked up to her:

"I'm so glad you're alright, Tetra!!"

"LINK?!"

_---Note_

_Unexpected… for them. Not necessarily for you. XD_

_Uhm… what to say about this chapter… hm…_

_First: Fairies FTW!_

_Second: I tried to work on the balance between prose and dialogue. Did it work?_

_Third: Yeay for an unnecessary attempt at writing prose sounding like medieval language. And yeay for Midna. Especially for Midna._

_Fourth: Tetra is back. YEAY for Tetra!_

_If you want to know what that "image of awesome" I described of her is supposed to look like, think Princess Zelda fanart on dA… NO, not THAT kind of Princess Zelda fanart! XD_

_Light Arrows. Because there is no kill like overkill. XD_

_And in case you're wondering: yes, Tetra is wearing her hair open right now. XD_


	28. Childlike Innocence and Naïveté

Chapter 27:

Childlike Innocence and Naïveté

If there was a world record for the most dumbfounded look, Tetra had certainly just broken it.

Eyes wide open, jaw dropped and a certain sense of _'Please poke me, because this has to be a dream'_ to her overall expression made it apparent that, out of all the things she could have encountered in here, this was probably the most unlikely one she could have imagined.

Link (Kaze), quite frankly, didn't care. His relieved and cheerful expression wasn't diminished the slightest bit by the disbelieving look Tetra gave him.

"Tetra, thank goodness, you're alright!"

"Link…?"

Tetra needed some more time to, firstly, process that this little, green, winged thing on the floor that was actually Link and, secondly, to pick which out of the three dozen questions that just came to her mind she was supposed to ask now. Eventually, she managed to settle on one.

"_What_ in the name of everything that makes sense in this world _happened to you?!"_

And, just to be sure that she actually was not dreaming, she rubbed her eyes once more… The two Link-fairies on the floor remained. She was positively awake. Somehow.

Kaze blushed a little bit and laughed uncomfortably, "Ehh… this?... Well, that's a quite long story, you see…"

"…I can't believe it…"

That last sentence didn't come from Tetra or Kaze, but from Toki. His look wasn't quite as dumbfounded as the prize-worthy one Tetra had delivered a few moments ago, but the way he stared at the Hylian girl above them now came rather close to it.

"Zelda…"

His eyes alternated between staring at Tetra's hair (which now had revealed itself to be much longer than it had looked when she still had worn it tied up) and her face. Finally he gasped a little, "You're not just similar… You're almost identical!"

"Huh? What…"

Tetra's attention shifted to this other boy… fairy… whatever, as she tried to understand how exactly he was realizing this just now. It didn't take her long.

"Oh. Let me guess. The ancient Princess wore her hair open all the time?"

Toki slowly nodded. "…Whenever she wasn't wearing a wimple… yeah…"

"OK. Could you please explain to me, then, how exactly she could consider this to be _comfortable_?!"

Tetra grabbed her whole mass of hair in one hand and started to wring it out like a wet towel:

"This is so goddamn annoying! Soaking, dripping, getting stuck on _everything everywhere_… ARGH! Just because I lost my barette in this darn storm…I can't imagine any sane person willingly wearing this hairstyle! It's torture!"

"You're using a barette?" Link asked, interested. He never noticed one in this monster of construction she called a 'hairstyle'.

"Used," she responded, quite bitterly. "Tried hairpins once. Didn't work. My hair was too heavy."

"Aha…"

"W-Whatever! That's beside the point!!" Tetra quickly shook her head, as if to get out all the unnecessary thoughts about the inconvenience of openly worn hair. "Again: _What _happened to you two?! I mean… your size! … the _wings_!!"

She bent down and let Kaze climb onto her palm, so she could look him into the eyes without causing herself major pain in the neck.

"…Also, you are giving me déjà vu," she stated. "For… some… reason."

"Hm? Déjà vu?"

Kaze took a second to think…

"Yeah…"

He looked up at Tetra again, as her (for him) over-dimensionally big eyes looked at him in a puzzled manner. Finally, he nodded.

"That perspective is... kind of familiar…"

"OK… Ehm… Say, is there a certain reason you're fumbling around with your hat like this?"

"Huh?"

Just now, Kaze realized that he had taken of his cap and started playing with it between his fingers. He had never done this before. Quickly, he placed it on his head again. Why was he feeling a little weird right now...?

Tetra started impatiently tapping her foot on the floor. "Link. I am waiting for an explanation for this. _A good one_."

"Uhm…"

Finally, Kaze just took a deep breath and got ready to explain their recent progress in this temple to Tetra.

Meanwhile, Toki's eyes were somewhere completely different, however…

Eyne was floating right behind Tetra's head, holding both of her hands up before her face. After some time, she started putting down one finger after another, after an interval of roughly one second each... wait.

Was she counting down?

6…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

"WOAH!!"

It was just this moment, that a strange sensation overcame the boys—

Less than a second latter, they had grown back to their usual size, accompanied by loud yell from Tetra's side.

In case you don't quite understand why she was yelling, might I remind you: Kaze had been sitting on her _palm _the moment he regained his normal size.

Holding her pounding wrist in the other hand, Tetra remained gritting her teeth in pain for about two seconds, before she angrily glared down at her Link (who was just rubbing his hurting bottom this moment) and started to shout at him:

"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT?!"

Naturally, Kaze backed off about a meter right away before he could answer, "Sorry!! The spell must have worn off!! Ah—Ah… That didn't hurt, did it?"

"Oh, no, I am perfectly _fine _holding about 50 kilos in my _bare_ hand all of the sudden; don't you know about my superhuman strength? _Of course that hurt, you dolt!!"_

She made a fist with the non-pounding hand (which was, for the record, her left one) and knocked her dear friend on the head.

"Ouch!"

"Well… so this was a spell. One you knew would wear off." Tetra gave the boys a confused look. "Don't tell me you cast that on yourselves?"

They both nodded, as Kaze explained, "We got that spell from Medli. There were obstacles and using the spell was the only option to get past them. It's not like we had any choi—OUCH!!"

Fist applied to forehead: Take two.

Kaze jumped up and finally returned Tetra the angry glare she had been giving him for the past five minutes. "What was that for? HUH?!"

"For you being such idiots!" Tetra explained. "So, you two were perfectly aware that this spell would wear off after a certain time span! You were also aware that it would render you defenseless and weak! Yet you kept flying around in the temple the whole time?! That's what you call a _good_ plan?!"

Kaze wanted to defend himself and was about to point at Eyne, already saying, "We were being pushed to—"

But Tetra was faster. Reducing the distance between them to a minimum (and making Kaze feel incredibly uncomfortable in the process) she hissed at him:

"You two were lying on the ground. Surrounded by Wizrobes. My conclusion: You were about to be finished off by them. And you would have been, if I hadn't showed up, _right_?!"

"Tetra…"

"Link! Seriously, can't I let you out of my sight for _two minutes _without you doing something so incredibly stupid, where death should be the only possible outcome for any person with a normal amount of luck?! You are reckless—no wait, scratch that. You are _impossible_!"

"Ha! You're one to talk!" Kaze tried to make _her_ back off now, but it didn't quite work. Still, he kept hissing at her, "Who's the one who went through three temples all by herself, without even considering to get some help?!"

"_Me_!" Tetra hissed back with certain pride in her voice. "And I would have made it through the other three as well! It wasn't _that _hard!"

"What if something had happened to you?! There would have been no one to help you out in a worst-case scenario!" Link argued. "You call me reckless and impossible, but meanwhile had me worrying for your life all the time!"

"Boohoo, pass the boy a tissue for worrying about someone, who is _perfectly _able to take care her of herself!" Tetra returned and finished up with a, "And you know it."

"Why are you even yelling at me like this?!" Link demanded, after he ran out of arguments to… well, argue. "We finally meet again, finding out that the other is fine and the first thing you do is _yell _at me?! How messed up is that?!"

"I'm just wondering how the heck you even got down here!" Tetra shouted. "You were never a good swimmer, let alone a good _diver_! Adding the fact that you don't have most of your equipment at the moment, you should have had no way to—"

"—Wait!" Link looked up in surprise. "How do _you_ know about my stolen equipment?!"

"Huh!—"

It was just now that Link's previous intention actually became reality and Tetra actually backed off, for some reason:

"Well… I… uhm…"

"Hey… Isn't that _my_ spare bow?!"

Link had taken a closer look at the bow Tetra had strapped to her back and recognized it as the one he had gained in the realm of the Ocean kind—the one that had been stolen from their ship. Along with pretty much everything else on it.

"The thief… the one who emptied ship… was _you?!_" Perplexed and disbelieving of his own words, Link watched how Tetra tried to quickly hide the bow, even though it was no use. A slight blush appeared on her face, as he continued, "You plundered your _own_ship?!"

She bit her lower lip. "It's not plundering when the things technically _do_ belong to me…"

"This means you actually were on Windfall! The girl Linebeck saw was you after all!"

"I…"

"Why didn't you show yourself when you saw the ship and knew we were there?! Do you even have the slightest clue how worried everybody was for you?"

"Yes…"

"So, who is the reckless one no—"

"OH, JUST SHUT UP!" she suddenly yelled. Link couldn't help but back off once again, unwillingly passing the domination over the argument once again over to Tetra. "I just wanted you and the crew to stay on Windfall 'till I'm finished! That's why I emptied the ship: I wanted you to be unable to leave the place! So, now I got that off my chest!"

Those words, however, only caused Link to be even more puzzled. "Let me get this straight: You wanted to _trap_ us on Windfall? _Why_ would you want to do that?!"

"So you wouldn't go out to search for me and do something unbelievably dumb in the process!" she replied. "Like roaming a monster-ridden temple as an adorable, little fairy, for example!" At this point, she had to take a deep breath. Otherwise, she would have run out of air.

"… I wanted to take care of this problem myself for once, without dragging anyone else in. So I detached the sails, took pretty much everything usable with me, boarded the vessel of the King of Red Lions and left. That's it."

"And how did you get down here?", Link asked.

Tetra tried explaining. "The Spirit Temple was within Mother Child Isle. I thought, already being there, I could pay a visit to the Queen of Fairies as well. She told me were you went and when I explained to her, that I wanted to solve the Water Temple myself, she gave me a spell, so I could breath under wa—ha—ha—_achoo_!!" She sneezed all of the sudden.

"—But that spell doesn't protect me from getting wet and wearing my hair like this when it's soaked with water doesn't really help at all! And it just won't d-ra-_ACHOO_!... Damn it…"Already her nose was starting to run and Tetra was visibly not pleased by this. "Oh great, now I got myself a cold! Because this will make my already horrible night's sleep _that _much better…"

"Oh! Wait a second!"

It was Eyne who now flew over to Tetra. Watched by the young girl's confused eyes, the fairy made a gesture with her hands and clapped. Out of nowhere, a warm wind suddenly swept through Tetra's hair, causing it to dry in a matter of seconds.

"Better now?" Eyne asked.

Somewhat relieved, Tetra moved her fingers along her dried hair. "…A lot! Thanks."

"You're welcome! Heehee…"

"Hey…"

In interest, Toki turned towards Eyne:

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?" she answered, the innocent smile still on her face. It however, faded, once she got a reply.

"I've never seen a common fairy using a wind spell before."

Eyne's eyes opened wide in shock when she heard that. Quickly, she started waving her arms before her body nervously.

"Ah—It's just some little parlor trick I learned it somewhere, nothing special, really!"

"Parlor trick, huh?"

Toki's eyes made it more than just obvious that he hardly bought this explanation. Eyne quickly escaped his eyes by slowly floating behind Kaze, whose attention was still on Tetra, rather than Toki or Eyne:

"What do you mean by 'your night sleep is horrible'?" Kaze asked Tetra with a hint of worry in his voice. "Nightmares again?"

"Yeah, nightmares…" she stated and looked away quickly when she realized that Kaze wanted to know more about this. "…Just some more stupid nightmares. That's all."

"Still about Ganondorf?"

"…" Tetra fell silent. For a short second, she bit her lip again, like this question made her feel very uncomfortable. And for some reason, she suddenly seemed to try hard not to look into Kaze's eyes. Kaze, on his part, tilted his head slightly and tried to sound as calm as possible.

"Tetra, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing…"

"Don't lie," he told her, causing her to move her eyes even further away from him. "Com'on! What did you dream this time?"

"Ha." She closed her eyes, slightly tilted her head upwards and claimed in a stubborn manner, "Those are _my _dreams. I don't need to tell you anything!"

"Tetra, please!"

"Even if I wanted to tell you what those dreams were about," she threw Toki a quick glance, "you know that I don't exactly like having some stranger listening to my private conversations!"

Toki showed visible discontent about being referred to as "some stranger".

"It's OK!" Kaze quickly said. "He's me!"

"Uhm… _What?_"

Tetra blinked a few times and took a close look at Kaze's face, just to make sure that he actually intended this last line to be taken seriously. His face, however, was dead serious.

"Long, long story!" he quickly replied. "But that's not the point now! Tetra, I know you heard that one before, but you are the princess of Hyrule! It's more than likely that your nightmares are actually visions of some kind! Please, you have to tell us!"

"Argh…"

"Please!"

Tetra was still hesitating to talk about it, but after some time she took a deep breath. With her eyes fixed on the floor next to Kaze, she finally mumbled:

"I keep dreaming of …you… dying...."

Kaze's eyes momentarily widened.

"…W-What?!"

Suddenly, Tetra looked up and right away started shouting again. "That's how it is! Every single, darn night, I have to watch you suddenly kneeling over and dying! Happy now?!"

"This is bad!" Toki stated. "Every night? Kaze, if she actually keeps having the dream, it's _most likely _a prophecy!"

Kaze gulped. "But I don't want to die," he stated somewhat flatly, as if he believed this to be a bad joke of some kind. "I'm way too young to!"

"And _that's _why I wanted to keep you out of this!" Tetra claimed furiously. "Look, I'm not stupid just because I'm a blonde! I _do know _that the Princesses of Hyrule always had weird powers. I _do know _that a dream I have every _single_ night is bound to eventually have some kind of meaning! So I tried preventing it from happening!"

She crossed her arms. "A good captain has to always make sure that the safety of their crew is secured! So, in the case that there's even a hint that one of my crewmembers might be in mortal danger, I _have_ to act! That's why I tried to keep you on Windfall, where the greatest danger you could possibly run into are the pigs. But _no_, you have to work around this, just so you can continue playing the hero!"

"Tetra, I _am _the hero!" Kaze responded once she finished talking "That's"—and he hesitated a moment, as if he didn't quite want to say the next word–"my destiny!"

"Screw destiny!" Tetra suddenly exclaimed so loudly and emphatically, so Kaze jerked a little when he heard it. "I don't need destiny! I need my people _alive_!!Link, you… you are…"

Link was still in the process of backing off from Tetra's furious shouting, when he suddenly noticed how her voice started to soften…

Then, she opened her, eyes (which had been closed all the time while she was yelling) and…

"Can't you see that you are in danger?! Link, I know that you are always trying to give your very best to help, but you have watch out for your own safety as well! You are important to… all of us!! And if my dreams eventually become reality… I pray that this will not be the case! I cannot allow that something as horrible as this happens to you! So how could I ever approve of you risking your life as easily as this?"

In surprise, Link stopped stepping backward, as he noticed how Tetra's expression was gradually changing while she was still talking. What was happening…?

"Link, it is true, you are the hero! But what if something was to happen to you? Link, everyone in these lands needs you! Especially in times like this! This is why I will do all in my power to prevent this horrible vision from becoming reality!"

"'_These lands'_?... Tetra?"

There was a clueless look on Kaze's face when he heard the girl before him saying those lines. What was going on? This tone, the way she spoke… the way she was gazing at him with big, hopeful, blue eyes…

…This was not Tetra. At least not the Tetra he knew.

Eventually, Toki took a step forward and slowly opened his mouth:

"Princess… Zelda? Is that you…?"

"Huh?"

As soon as Tetra heard the name, she seemed to be startled for some reason. For a second, she just blankly stared into the air, before she suddenly kneeled down and put her hands to her head, looking like she was in severe pain.

"Agn… Ah…"

Shocked, Kaze bent down next to her. "Tetra! Are you alright?!"

Tetra stopped groaning. Her breathing became calmer again as she nodded. "… Yeah…"

She looked up again and shook her head a few times, before she (refusing to accept Kaze's helping hand), stood up again and sighed, "It happened again…"

"What?"

"Never mind." She quickly killed the topic. "So… You two don't happen to have a new barette for me, do you?"

Tetra was fumbling around with her hair between her fingers as she said this. The boys silently shook their heads.

"Thought so. Whatever… Oh, yes, Link…"

"Yes?"

While Kaze was still asking himself what exactly had just happened to Tetra, she rummaged in her bag and pulled out something. "I thought you might want to have this back…here!" She smiled as she handed Kaze a snow-white baton.

"The Wind Waker!" he exclaimed, somewhat relieved, as he took it back from her. "You actually saved it, Tetra!"

She grinned. "And it still works fine as well. I used it a few times, so I guess there should be no problems. But, seriously, try to not lose it anymore, alright?"

"That's an easy thing to say…" he replied, as he closely examined the baton for cracks or anything else of that kind. Fortunately, there actually seemed to be no damage. "How could I have foreseen that gust coming?"

"Oh yes, about that storm…" Toki sighed "Sorry about that. I completely underestimated the power of the Song of Storms. I didn't think it would have that kind of effect out on the ocean…"

"No problem." Tetra winked at him. She seemed to have completely calmed down now. "After all, nobody got hurt and I saw that the ship is alright as well. I guess everybody got lucky, or what?"

"Well… not exactly everybody…" Kaze admitted, somewhat subdued. "We wrecked the S. S. Linebeck…"

"What?!" Tetra was a little startled. "Does that mean Linebeck is—"

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Kaze quickly kept her from talking any further. "He's fine."

Hearing this, Tetra sighed in relief, "Wheew… Thank goodness…"

While Kaze was carefully storing his baton in his inventory, he carried on, "He's currently with the others on Outset… I agreed to let him come with us on our ship until we found a replacement for his own. Is this OK with you?"

Tetra nodded slowly. "Sure, as long as he doesn't get in our way... Ah… whatever. Anyway… So you came from over there?"

She pointed at the door in the corner of the room. The boys nodded.

"Hm… that means that this way just leads back to main hall… OK, we'll have to take the door I came through then and take another way. Follow me, boys!"

She had already turned around and started to head for the door, when Kaze suddenly jumped up. "W-Wait a sec!"

He ran up to Tetra, passed by her and placed himself between her and the door. "You… you can't come!"

"_I beg your pardon?"_

Tetra stared at him as if he just told her the lamest joke in the history of lame jokes.

"Link. I made my way through three of those temples. _Alone_. And in case you suddenly suffer from short-time memory loss, may I remind you that approximately 5 minutes ago, I saved your butt? Now name me _one_ good reason why I should stay behind?"

"Ehm—Because—You are—I am—"

But Tetra didn't allow him to go any further than that. The angry expression on her face had made its triumphant return, after barely three minutes of absence.

"Oh, I get it, let me guess! The _Great Mighty Hero_™ can't help but feel humiliated, because I refuse to play the role the _Fair Pure Princess_™, who nicely stays behind and waits until he's done with boosting his ego on some stupid quest. Well, if you want to hear my opinion on that… _hello?"_

She started knocking at Link's forehead. "_Tock, Tock, Tock! Anybody home?!_"

"Ow!!"

Link barely managed to dodge the fourth knock, stepped back three steps and quickly resumed talking, before Tetra could cause him any more headaches than she already did. "Tetra, listen to me! You made it through those other temples way too fast!"

"Or you two were just way too slow!"

"Honestly, did you encounter _any_ monsters while you where there? Just asking."

"Well… There were some, of course."

As if too show that she was just as capable as the two of them, she started counting the monsters aloud. "There were two Octorocs… Annoying, but not really hard to get rid of…a swarm of burning Keese… Ugh, this _disgusting_ ReDead… yeah, that one was rather nasty…"

"…And a giant larva, who tries to pound you to mash once you get anywhere near it or a colossus made of magma? Or seemingly bottomless armies of ChuChus and Stalfos, that make you seriously wonder where they keep coming from and _how_?!"

Link actually managed to baffle Tetra with those monster descriptions, an achievement he was rather proud of. Yet, he tried to keep his expression as serious as possible. He wanted her to clearly understand what he was trying to tell her.

"Tetra, seriously, I would never even dare to think a single second that you were weak! But we think that the monsters are specifically targeting us! That's why you didn't have half the problems we had when you went through the temples. Staying with us right now would be too dangerous! Yesterday night, Grandma, Aryll and Sue Belle got dragged into a battle with some monsters that attacked us during the night. Look, I just don't want you to get into trouble, just because the two of us are walking dartboards right now!" "

"One more reason _not _to go let you two progress alone now!" Tetra insisted. "Link, I know I am repeating myself, but I _do_ have dreams of _you_ _biting_ _the dust_! And when the enemy is actually sending monsters en masse after you… Forget it! I'm not leaving now, just so I can return later to pick up your corpse!"

"Tetra…"

"I am sick of the waiting anyway! I felt useless when I had to wait for you in Hyrule Castle! I felt like a _nuisance_ when I had to watch you fight all alone in the realm of the Ocean King and couldn't even move a muscle! I'm so done with that! And you know what? I surely didn't fight through half of this goddamn hole of a temple, just so you can sent me back to the reserve bench in order to _wait again_! You got that?"

"Uhm… But…"

"_You got that!?"_

Once again, Kaze couldn't help but back off. This woman never failed to "amaze "(read: scare the heck out of) him.

"A…Alright…"

He sighed:

"But please… be careful, OK?"

"You too!" was Tetra's answer, before she went past him and gave them a sign to follow her. "Come on, guys, we don't have all day!"

Silent, maybe even a little perplexed, the former group of three followed the blond girl, who apparently had just appointed herself as their leader.

Lucky them.

* * *

"And… PUSH!"

"HA… HNGH!!"

Tetra and the Links were leaning against a huge boulder which was in their way. With all their might they tried to move it out of their way.

"Almost there! Just once more, boys!!" Tetra shouted.

"HNGH!!!"

Finally, the giant piece of rock moved. They'd done it. Tired but proud, they exchanged smiles and high fives, before they continued their way through the corridor.

"So… you actually mean it?" Tetra finally asked. "The reincarnation thing, I mean."

"Well, that's what the sages told us." As Kaze replied, he stretched his arms into the air a little bit for no particular reason.

Toki took a look at Tetra's now very calm face. "You don't seem to be very surprised by this," he stated.

Tetra just smiled. "Well, it is a weird thought, but I guess it really doesn't surprise me much. ...After all, Link is much more capable than he does looks. His talents do have to come from somewhere."

"What do you mean by. 'Than I look'?" Kaze asked, slightly annoyed, although he was rather glad that Tetra had called him "capable" and "talented."

A short laugh escaped Tetra when she notice the look on her friends face: "Well, you don't exactly look like a knight in shining armor, do you? And even if you did, you'd be a rather short knight!"

"Argh…" Kaze didn't like this last statement. Not a bit. Mostly because it was true. "It's not fair; why's she taller than me…" he mumbled, almost unintelligible (but just almost).

Toki pointed out to him, "I'm taller than you too!"

He grinned, as he measured their heights with his hands and showed his partner that there was a difference amounting to approximately 2 inches.

"See?"

Kaze rolled his eyes. "Next you'll point out that one day, _Aryll _will be taller than me."

"If it continues like this, certainly!" Tetra commented.

"Hey!"

Gradually Kaze's face was changing to a crimson red color as the game of "Everbody is taller than you" his friends were playing progressed.

Toki just gave him a grin and patted his back. "You just need to drink more milk! That will help you growing!"

"You and your milk..."

"Hm… Sorry, no, but I don't think so," Tetra stated, grinning mischievously. "Milk cannot substitute a missed growth spurt! Heheh…"

As Kaze heard this, he jumped. "I… I didn't miss it! It's just… taking it's time!!"

"Su~re it is." Tetra replied in a sarcastic tone.

When Toki saw that they were actually upsetting Kaze a lot with this talk, he said, "Hey, don't worry. It's not all about height, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

"It can't be far anymore!"

This was Eyne, finally letting her voice be heard again after having remained silently watching everybody else for quite some time now. "The sanctuary is near. I can feel it!"

"And once we are there, we'll just defeat the last monster and break the sage's seal," Toki stated, as the smile on his face reappeared. "Piece of cake!"

Kaze agreed with a smile. "Yes, together we should be able to finish this in no time!"

"Uagh!!"

A gasp of disgust was the next thing the boys heard and thus they turned around to see Tetra, desperately brushing her hair with her hands. "Yikes! I got some spiderweb in there! That's gross!"

She tried everything in her power to get the sticky strings out of her hair, but it was to no avail; no matter how much she got out, a few strings remained. Finally, she gave up and once again declared:

"I _hate _hairstyle!! How did that other Princess not go nuts, wearing her hair like this?!"

"Simple: She never went through any spiderweb-filled dungeons," Toki explained "Because that's… you know… actually… _my_ job."

"Please, don't get us started with this again…" Kaze sighed, already feeling the headache coming back.

Tetra, however (after trying to somehow tie up her hair, using her scarf and, of course, failing), stated, "Argh!....First thing I do once we got out here: Get myself a new barrette!"

"Why a barrette? You could try wearing braids for once.", Kaze suggested and Toki nodded.

"Yeah, or a ponytail!"

"With a ribbon!"

"Oh yes, a ribbon would look cute on you!"

Fist applied to Link's forehead. Take 3.

"Uhf!!"

Fist applied to Link's forehead. Take 4.

"Ouch!"

"You say 'ribbon', I say 'toilet duty.' _Forever,_" Tetra hissed. "And now, move on. I want to free that sage and get this finally over with!"

"There'll … probably be a huge monster again," Toki noted, while he was still rubbing his forehead. "We'd better be prepared."

Tetra put her hand around the handle of her cutlass. "I am prepared for anything," she said. "And once we awaken the last sage, this whole mess will finally come to an end."

"Yeah…"

Suddenly, Kaze smile faded again and he looked to the floor…

So the moment the sages joined forces, everything would go back to the way it used to be? This mean the monster attacks would stop again; Dragon Roost mountain would not erupt again for sure; he would stop heaving those dreams and déjà vus all the time...

…Toki would be gone.

When everything went back to normal, there would only be one "Link" left in the world. That was the way it was supposed to be, right…? Why did it feel so incredibly cruel to him then?

Toki was a person too, after all. Even if he didn't truly belong here, he was their friend. If they could just find a way to keep him from disappearing… Then they could stay friends…

Actually…considering what they were… Was this a narcissistic wish? Now that he thought about it…

"Uhh… Ruto…"

Toki's slightly trembling voice caused Kaze to return to reality and notice, how the Hero of Time was downright shivering in fear at the thought of the Sage of Water. "I hope she'll at least stay on-topic! I hope the impending apocalypse is enough to distract her from her pointless flirting attempts… But I seriously doubt it."

Kaze couldn't help but be amazed.

_That_ were his worries? His only worries? Just how could he stay so calm? How could he ignore the fact that he was _going to die_?

…That's when Kaze remembered what Tetra said about her dreams before.

He gulped.

If she was right… Toki wouldn't be the only one to die. They both would.

Then again, what if what Tetra saw was not actually meant to be him, but Toki? Maybe she just saw the inevitable happening…

"Also…I am still worried because of Saria…" Toki suddenly stated.

Quickly trying to forget the terrifying thoughts he had on his mind just a second ago, Kaze turned towards him again. "Why don't you try to call on her again? Maybe this time it works."

Since this suggestion seemed like a good and logical idea, Toki reached into his bag and got out the Ocarina. He played the familiar three notes and repeated them…

After a short moment of silence, he shook his head. "Nothing…" He stored the Ocarina again. "…Just why isn't she answering? I got the feeling that something is wrong with the sages…"

As Toki was still pondering about what could possibly have happened to Saria that caused their connection to disappear, his eyes suddenly rested on Tetra.

"Hm…"

"Huh? What?" Tetra blinked at him a few times. "Do I have something stuck in my face? Why are you starring at me like that?"

"Well, you see… it's like this:", Toki started explaining: "Actually, there are _seven_ sages. Princess Zelda is the seventh. And since all the sages are spiritually connected to each other, I figured you might be able to find out what has happened over there…"

A skeptical expression appeared on Tetra face, as Toki explained this. "Ehh… yeah, sure, right. And how exactly is that supposed to work?" she asked in disbelief.

"Ah, what do I know… close your eyes and think… Triforce or something, just try it, please! I just want to know what happened to Saria!"

"Ahh… Alright…" Annoyed, Tetra crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Triforce, Triforce, Triforce—surprise, nothing happened. Let's move on!"

Toki looked rather offended by Tetra's actions, as he glared at her for a short moment, stating, "You may _look_ like Princess Zelda… but you are not like her at all…"

Tetra promptly returned that glare and replied in an uncharacteristically deep tone for her voice:

"Yes. And I will never be. I am my own person, not just a substitute for the Princess you knew. Deal with it, OK?"

It actually seemed like his statement had offended her a little bit. Toki, however, just crossed his arms and made a short gesture towards Kaze. "But…he and I are not _this_ different…"

"…Maybe, we are…"

This unexpected reply by Kaze caused Toki to suddenly turn to the side and look at his friend. "What?"

"Oh..?" Kaze looked up. He had seemingly not been quite aware of his surroundings for at least some time now. Somewhat embarrassed, he laughed, "Ah… I was just thinking aloud, sorry."

"But what did you mean by that?" Toki asked in curiosity.

"Uhm… It's just…" Kaze hesitated a little, but finally, he answered, "…I just think I'm not really able to do all the things you can do…"

"You surely have some talents that I don't."

"That's… not quite what I meant…"

The boy blushed, as he stopped walking for a moment and rubbed his back, like he was feeling a little uncomfortable.

"It's just that you are…"

Toki's eyes were on him with an interested look in them, but finally Kaze just sighed, "Ah, never mind."

Afterwards, he just went on. Toki wanted to ask further what Kaze was trying to say, but finally decided that it was probably better to just let the topic rest. The group continued on their way.

'_It's just that you are stronger than me,' _was what Link had actually wanted to say, but he had realized that this formulation perhaps didn't really fit with what he had been meaning to say, so he decided to postpone the topic until he finally found a way to correctly express what he thought. Also, having Tetra next to them and listening was kinda awkward… But in this aspect, he probably wouldn't really have a choice. It wouldn't be long before Toki was gone… right after they defeated the monster in the final room would probably be his last chance to say this, so he had to decide on a formulation quickly. Maybe: '_I still got a lot to learn before I can be as —' _... as… as… 'cool' maybe?... No, the multiple meanings of that word came into the way here. He didn't want to express 'awesome' by saying this… but 'calm' or 'controlled' didn't really fit either. Ah, this would be much more difficult than he thought—

Just as he was about to think about other possible and non-awkward ways to say what he wanted to say, a voice surprised the group mid walking.

It was a loud giggle that echoed seemed to come out of nowhere.

"_Eheeheehee…"_

Surprised, Toki drew his sword and turned around. "Did you hear that too?"

Kaze went into battle stance as well. "Yes! It sounded kind of like…"

"… a laugh?" Tetra ended the sentence, as she took a look around."But who…"

"Over there!" Eyne shrieked, as she pointed towards the end of the corridor.

Two pairs of red eyes glowed through the dark and seemed to be waiting there for them…They belonged to two figures. Two figures which the boys had actually hoped they would not have to ever see again.

"Huh?" Tetra backed off a little. "They look like… you?!"

Kaze saw it too, but he actually hoped it were just his eyes playing trick on him. Unfortunately, they weren't: Dark Links. Two of them. In the corridor, just a few meters away from them. "Oh no…Those shadows again?"

"Don't worry, this time, we are prepared!" Toki stated, as he put his sword back into its scabbard and took out his hammer instead.

But once more, the laughter they had heard just a minute ago echoed through the temple:

"_Heeheehee…"_

The boys looked up in surprised and looked all around, but there was nobody nearby whom the voice could have belonged to.

"Who's there?" Kaze shouted out through the corridor, with Toki adding, "Show yourself!"

But they got no answer. As Kaze slowly stopped searching for the owner of the disembodied voice out of nowhere and returned to looking into the depths of the corridor before them, both of the Dark Links where still in the very same spot as before in the very same position.

"They are not charging for us…"

Toki noticed it as well. "Yes… why?"

They kept attentively observing their dark doubles standing in the middle of the corridor, doing nothing...

"Boys?" There was something to Tetra's voice that made her seem unsettled. "I don't have a good feeling about this. Maybe, we should—"

It was that moment that the Dark Links suddenly moved. Slowly and expressionlessly, they turned around… and ran down the corridor.

"H-Hey!" Kaze exclaimed, surprised, as Toki made a fist.

"We can't let them get away! Let's go!!"

Exchanging quick glances, the boy sprinted off and left a baffled Tetra behind.

Could those men really be that naïve?!

"No! But what if this is a tra—argh! They're not even listening… WAIT!!"

She dashed after them, hoping that her suspicions were not right, because with the head start the boys had yet, she would not be able to catch up to them before something happened. She saw the Links running through a wide, open doorway.

Just as she tried to follow them inside, a wall came down all of the sudden, right before her nose.

"Ah!"

"Tetra!"

It was just now that Kaze noticed that they let her fall behind, so he ran back to the now sealed doorway and knocked against it. "Tetra! Tetra, are you alright?! Can you hear me?!"

"Ohhhh…." Even through half a meter of stone Link could hear her voice tremble with anger, which made him jerk. A loud yelling followed:

"_Link!_ If you'd just try to use your brain _before_ acting once in a while! This was about the most obvious trap I've ever seen in my life!"

"But those Shadows… they—"

"Kaze…"

Toki tried to regain the other boy's attention. "There…"

He pointed at the center of the room, where the two Dark Links had stopped and were now standing left and right of something resembling a podium. With their expressionless faces and their stiff postures, they looked like royal guards, protecting a throne… For some reason, this image was rather creepy. It probably had also something to do with what was placed _above _the podium…

Just a few inches in the air over it, a figure hovered, completely obscured by a kind of robe…

"Huh? What is this?" Kaze let his hand wander over to his scabbard, so he could draw his sword as quickly as possible when needed. "The monster guarding this sanctuary?"

"Guys…"

Kaze felt Eyne on his head trembling a little, as she peeked out from under his hat and whispered, "…Be careful…"

"Hey, do you know something about … whatever this is, Eyne?" he quickly asked.

But the fairy had hidden under his hat again and remained silent.

Toki had already gone into a battle stance. "Judged by the size… it could be a magician type creature… Maybe another Wizrobe!" He took a closer look. "Wait…I think that's Gerudo writing on the robe…"

"Gerudo? The warrior tribe you mentioned?"

As Toki was nodding to respond to this, the unknown giggle suddenly echoed through the room again:

"Eheeheeheeheehee… ah…"

A hand, grayish in color, reached out from under the robe. The boys got ready to block any eventual attack, but this turned out be unnecessary.

The robed figure made a gesture with its hand, moving it first up, then down. As it did, the two Dark Links suddenly bowed down and melted into shadows on the ground and disappeared. Surprised, the boys looked up. So those two had merely served as bait for them?

…Who was that, under those robes?

Now, the robed creature slowly descended from the podium, down to the boy's level, but still not touching the ground. A second, grayish hand emerged. The hands grabbed the robe… pulled it up… threw it to the corner of the room.

The creature's true form had been revealed—

OK. 'Creature' was probably not the right word. Just as 'surprised' was a vast understatement for what the two boys felt this moment, when they saw what, or rather, _who_ exactly had been hidden beneath those robes.

Was that a joke? It had to be.

Kaze blinked a few times, just to make sure that he was seeing right. "But… that's… that's just…"

Meanwhile, Toki had obvious problems trying not to burst into sudden laughter. "…That's it?!" he stated with a big grin. "But that's just a little girl! Oh boy… and there I was thinking we were in trouble!"

Really, that being hovering about one meter over the ground had the exact same appearance of a little girl, certainly not older than 7 years, except for the fact that her skin was of a downright unhealthy looking, pale, grey color. Completely dressed in black—actually, even her hair was black—she wore a pointed hat and a cape, which made her closely resemble an evil storybook witch, except that she was… adorable.

Yes, adorable. There was no other way to describe it. She was so adorable, almost doll-like, that not the color of her skin, not the markings on her face, or even the fact that she had _red, glowing_ eyes, like the Dark Links, could make her seem intimidating.

In fact, she shared many of their superficial features, but unlike the Link's dark doppelgangers, who were genuinely unsettling to look at, she just looked like a failed attempt to create something that tapped into mankind's greatest fears, but instead ended up resembling a doodle a 9 years old would come up with when given the task to draw a 'scary' witch or sorceress. In fact, Kaze was rather sure that _this _was what Aryll would come up with when asked to draw one.

With eyes full of curiosity, the witch-like girl closely examined the two green clad boys before her, which also revealed whom the giggling voice they had heard all the time did belonged to.

"Oh?... Eheheheh...Tee hee…"

Judged by her expression, she was having great fun, even though she wasn't doing anything except looking at them.

Amused, Toki couldn't help but giggle too. "Heheheh… OK, whoever our enemies may be this time… They have _clearly_ run out of monsters, if they're already sending the _nursery_ after us!"

"Hey, Toki?"

Kaze took a step towards the little girl and looked into her big, sickeningly cute eyes. She quickly returned the look with a big smile.

"Do we really have to fight her… it… that monster?" he asked. "I don't know, but I think I would feel like common bully if we did…" He suppressed the strong urge to randomly say, "Aww."

Crossing his arms, Toki went up to him and stated, "I'm not beating up little girls. Especially not when they are not attacking me… she's not attacking, is she?"

"I think she wouldn't even know how to pronounce the word 'attack'…" Kaze guessed. "Or… any words, while we're at it…"

The little girl's reaction to their confused looks had stayed limited to random giggles and big, playful smiles until now.

"But if she's really supposed to be the guardian monster of this temple…" Kaze's voice made it obvious that he was doubting this, "…she does have the key we need to open the sanctuary."

"Maybe we can get her to reveal it to us?" Toki suggested.

"Hm…"

Kaze took a few seconds to think, and then he nodded and looked at the little girl. "…Ehh… Hello?... You?" He proceeded to speak slow and clearly:

"Do...you...understand...me? "

"Heheheheh…"

"Boys…don't…"

In surprise, Toki turned his head around. That was Eyne's voice… it had just been very quiet whispering, which Kaze had not noticed because he was to focused on the laughing girl, but Toki was sure that he heard her say something...

But the fairy remained hidden underneath the other boy's hat and didn't say anything else.

What she said… It sounded like 'don't'. 'Don't'… Don't what? This was when Toki came to think…

"Kaze…" He bit his lip. "Maybe you shouldn't go _that_ close to her…"

"Why?" Kaze replied, cheerfully smiling. "You think she'll suddenly turn into some fierce monstrosity and tear me to shreds?"

"No, maybe not, but I think, we probably shouldn't be so—"

"Ehee hee…"

That sudden, short laugh pulled the attention back to the girl. She hovered at their eyelevel now, smiling blissfully.

She reached behind her back, tilted her head innocently…

And pulled her hand back forth, in order to reveal a dark energy ball, which she promptly fired at Kaze.

"AH!"

With an incredible force, the young boy was hit, ripped away from the ground and smashed against a pillar behind them.

"UNGH!"

"Kaze!"

While Toki was still turning around to Kaze, he heard the voice of the little witch laughing loud and delightfully:

"_Ahahahahahahahaha!!"_

He wanted to turn around to face her again, but all he saw when he did was the next ball of energy, already shooting towards him. He quickly slashed it away with his sword, so it returned back to the witch, but she dodged it by disappearing into the ground and only reappearing when the spell had already faded. An amused giggle escaped her lips.

While she was still occupied with laughing, Toki rushed over to Kaze and helped him getting up. "Are you OK?"

"Uhh… yes… yes, I'm alright…"

He shook his head in disbelief at his own stupidity. "Just how could we be so stupid?! Tetra was right, this _was_ a painfully obvious trap and we ran right into it! Still…" He looked over to the witch who was still laughing loudly. "…What is she? I've never seen a monster before that doesn't attack right away!"

"B-Boys…"

Eyne peeked out from under Kaze's hat, before she slowly came out and placed herself before them. She looked incredibly nervous and couldn't seem to be quite able to look into their eyes. "D-Do you know the Gerudo word for 'witch'?" she asked with hesitation.

"The Gerudo word…?" Kaze replied, seemingly not quite getting the question, while Toki already started thinking aloud.

"The Gerudo word… Nabooru told me back then…" He looked up. "It's 'Rova,' right?"

"R-Right..!" She still didn't seem to be able to just say what she wanted to say.

"H-Her… Her name… Her name is 'Wizrova'. She was created the way Wizrobes are created but not with the same intent or the same properties… D-Do you understand how you have to face her?"

"Huh?"Confused, Kaze stared at her. "Eyne! How do you know about this?"

"What do you know about her?!" Toki suddenly yelled at her. "And if you really know something about this monster, why don't you just tell us what you know? Why?!"

"I… I…"

"Just say it!"

"…"

Eyne closed her eyes and fled under Kaze's hat again.

"Eyne! What is going on?!" he asked her.

But Eyne just shivered under his hat.

"D-Don't underestimate her! Please—" she whispered before she fell silent again.

But Kaze couldn't just ignore this any longer. He was about to take off his hat so he could force her to look them in the eyes, when he suddenly heard a sound behind him. "Huh?"

The witch with the name 'Wizrova' had materialized behind him and prepared her spell, still with that innocent, childish smile on her face.

When Kaze realized this, his eyes widened and a thought flashed through his mind:

She was so close. There was no way he would be able to dodge this.

As Wizrova flung her spell at the boy, Toki had already raised his sword. He hit the ball of energy and reflected it back at her, but once again, Wizrova just dematerialized to escape getting hit by her own spell. She rematerialized behind him, which Toki quickly noticed. He turned around, jumped and tried to slash her, but she just dodged it.

She was incredibly fast…

While Toki was still trying to regain his balance from the failed attempt to attack her, Wizrova suddenly unleashed a storm of smaller magical projectiles at the boys.

_"Ahahahahahahahaha!"_

"Woah!"

Of course they tried to dodge, but it was impossible. With the laughter of a playing child, the seemingly psychopathic girl downright feasted on their cries when they were thrown to the ground.

"Argh!"

Kaze quickly got up again. "She's strong…"

"Not strong…" Toki argued, "Just very fast and skilled with her spells… We need to change our strategy!"

"But to what?"

No answer followed.

Kaze gulped as he realized in what kind of difficult situation they were right now. How to hit an enemy, who almost instantly reacts to everything you do…?

Tetra had been right. If he just had taken a second to think before he let himself so wide open, their enemy wouldn't have gotten the upper hand.

_---Note_

_Pretty long chapter. Didn't remember that it was that long. ^^;_

_Thanks to the person who volunteered to Beta for me, until my actual Beta has finished beta-ing the, like, 17 chapters I sent in to her too late. -.-; I owe you big time._

_This is, by the way, the reason why this chapter features so much better spelling, grammar and paragraphing than the previous ones. ^^;_

_Jup, Tetra is back. And as you can tell, writing her is huge fun for me. She's just an awesome character, there is no use denying it. Her reaction to the loss of her barrette is, by the way, based on the fact that I have the same hair length as her and know just perfectly well how annoying it can be wear such long hair open. _

_While translating, I noticed that a lot of Tetra's dialogue here is pretty much reversing Princess Zelda's dialogue in the beginning Spirit Tracks in terms of meaning. That was not what I actually intended to do but, well, it works. XD_

_Ah, my beloved little creation, Wizrova, makes her debut! This character is what happened when I realized how incredibly boring the other 3 boss monsters I had yet where. Not to mention the fact that two of them were insects. -.-; _

_Yes, I am aware that the Links are acting quite stupid in this chapter, but they are hot-blooded boys, who don't know about the Anime tendency of monsters to disguise themselves as cute little gir—Oh. Wait a moment. Cubus Sisters. OK, TWW Link should really have seen it coming. XD_

_Let's just say it's not their day…^^;_


	29. Breaking the Illusion

Chapter 28:

Breaking the Illusion

As the battle had gone on for twenty minutes, they were exhausted and the wounds of the previous battle, which, of course, hadn't healed yet, put additional strain onto them. But Kaze also felt another kind of pain on his back now, different from the pain the burns caused him, and he strongly suspected this to be the remains of the damage his wings took when he was still in fairy form. Also, Toki's face made it obvious that he wasn't feeling much better.

But they had no chance to use any kind of recovery item on themselves. The little beast they were fighting just wouldn't stop flinging her spells at them and they had to keep evading every single of their attacks. Using their Mirror Shields and their swords, they tried to reflect the spells back at her multiple times, but Wizrova dodged it every single time without fail. In fact, she even seemed to enjoy it and playfully moved around as she was escaping the boys' counter attacks.

"What are we supposed to do?!" Kaze exclaimed when it became apparent that their battle had devolved into a game of cat and mouse, with them playing the role of the mouse.

Toki had apparently been pondering about this for quite a while yet. "If she really is a kind of Wizrobe, we'll have to use an according strategy on her! And the most effective way to defeat Wizrobes is to either attack them while they are preparing their spells, or to shoot them with arrows!"

"But how is this supposed to work when she's still able to dodge every time we tr—" This was when Kaze's eyes suddenly widened. He'd remembered something.

"Toki!" he called out, still evading the witch's attacks. "Remember what I told you about Tetra's and my battle with Ganondorf?"

Toki's first reaction to this line was a rather confused one, but after a few seconds, it became apparent that he understood what Kaze was trying to tell him. He nodded. Kaze nodded back. This had to work…

The boys looked into each other's eyes, trying to give signs. Then Toki ran off right into Wizrova's view. As the witch focused her eyes on him and started to cast her spell, he quickly took his bow and shot a fire arrow. He, however, aimed not for her, but for Kaze, who was standing behind her, holding his Mirror Shield before his body. The arrow hit the shield and charged it with the spell, while Kaze, trying to ignore the arrow's feedback, quickly aimed the shield at Wizrova, just as she was shooting her spell.

"Take this!!" he exclaimed, as he tried to shoot the fire magic his shield had charged at Wizrova. But he was surprised to find her suddenly facing _him, _rather than Toki, as she had been facing Toki just as split second ago. In glee, she threw her ball of magical energy at him, just as he had redirected the fire arrow's energy. The two spells hit each other and resulted in a small explosion. Wizrova teleported away, while Kaze, who was pretty close to it, was not lucky enough to escape the shockwave and got caught up in it.

"Argh!" He landed on his face in a quite uncomfortable way. As he looked up again, he saw Wizrova grinning at him mischievously… She was apparently really feasting on his misery and her look alone seemed to be making fun of him and the failure of his plan more than any words ever could.

Kaze got up again as quickly as he could. "Darn… it didn't work…" He kept his eyes on Wizrova… she mustn't hit him again.

Toki came to his side. "That plan was nothing either."

Kaze nodded. "What now? Her reflexes are so incredibly fast—"

But Toki interrupted him. "Those are not her reflexes," he said.

"Huh?"

Toki pointed at Wizrova. "Can you see the jewel on that eye-like symbol on her hat? It glowed for a short second when I shot this arrow to you. I guess she can somehow predict our movements with this."

"Ah! I get it!" Kaze nodded. "So, if we destroy the jewel, she can't dodge us that easily anymore! But how do we reach it?"

"It won't be easy…"

As they were still evading the continuous rain of spells, Toki suddenly got an idea. He smiled at Kaze and said a single word:

"Tennis!"

"Huh? But we already tried that!" Kaze reminded him.

Toki winked. "I didn't say, we were going to 'play' it with _her_…"

A short look into Toki's eyes caused Kaze to understand what he meant. And they smiled at each other in determination.

"Hey, you! Over here!"

Waving his arms in the air, Kaze tried to get Wizrova's attention. Once she had set her eyes on him, he raised his sword and stormed towards her. A wide, pleased grin crossed her face. With a single move of her hand, she prepared an energy ball, which she planned on shooting at the boy. He saw that coming. With a precise strike of his sword, he returned the ball to its source. Wizrova saw _that_ coming. Waiting until the very last second, she teleported out of the way with loud laughter. But she didn't see coming what followed.

Just as she rematerialized two meters away from her original location and tried to turn around so she would face the boys again, she'd already got the magic ball in her back, and she screeched loudly as she lost her balance and fell down to hit the floor.

"YEAH!" Kaze actually jumped. "It worked! _We actually got her_!!"

Toki quickly got his bow out and prepared an arrow. They had to act while she was still dizzy. "Fire!"

The burning arrow shot down to the little witch as she was still disoriented and somehow trying to get back on her feet. When it hit her hat and spread its flames all over it, she finally regained all her senses and shrieked, "HA?!"

In shock, she noticed what happened, took the hat off, threw it away and extinguished the fire as fast as she could. She picked up her headgear again and stared dumbfounded at the spot where the jewel was supposed to be… but the whole eye symbol had been burnt away.

"_Now_!"

"On my way!"

Wizrova heard the voices and wanted to turn around, but the two boys had already rammed her down and started to attack her with all force before she had even a chance to defend herself. It was only after she already took a rather huge number of hits did she finally managed to teleport away. It only took Toki a short look through the room to spot her again, though. "There!"

Wizrova was hovering in the air, shaking her head as if to dispel the dizziness. Finally, she raised her arms again and focused energy. "AAHHH!"

"Now we'll see if our theory was right!" Toki said, as both of the boys held tightly to their swords' handles. Wizrova had gathered an immense amount of energy now, creating a spell stronger than the ones she had casted before and she shot it towards Toki with all her force. He raised his sword and redirected the ball of energy. "Kaze!"

"Got it!"

Toki "passed" the ball over to Kaze, who then shot it back at Wizrova. And, unlike the previous time they tried this kind of strategy, Wizrova couldn't react. Much too late she just barely realized that her spell was coming back from behind, before it hit her and caused yet another shriek to escape her.

Cheerfully, Kaze jumped and laughed once again, as Toki exclaimed, "We're winning!"

"Don't let your guard down yet…" Eyne said carefully from underneath Kaze's hat.

"Uhh…" Wizrova got up from the hard ground. It was obvious that she was greatly exhausted and surprised. Yet, the shocked expression on her face suddenly faded again... and her childlike, mischievous smile returned.

She giggled, "Ehihihihi…"

Somewhat surprised, the boys backed up a step. What was she going to do now? She rose from the ground and slightly tilted her head to the side. She looked the boys in the eyes… focused completely on them.

"_Do you… desire?"_

"Huh?!" in surprise, Kaze grabbed his shield, as Toki did the same. "She… She can talk?"

The witch's smile turned into a wide grin and she laughed in realization, _"Yes, you do! Heheheheh…"_

Eyne peeked out from under Kaze's hat. "Boys! D-Don't look her in the—!" Eyne suddenly told them with a slight hint of panic in her voice, but she stopped as soon as Wizrova threw her a quick glance and she hid under the hat again.

Wizrova completely fixed her eyes on the boys again. What was going on?

They tried to look away… but found themselves unable to do so. No matter how hard they tried.

They couldn't look away anymore from those big, glowing, red eyes.

And then, all of the sudden, a bright light enclosed the area. A light, which felt like—

* * *

—Sunrays.

The warm light of the sun was touching his fingers…

The hand those fingers belonged to—it was his left one —was covering his face… He felt sleepy.

Where did those sunrays come from all of the sudden? Wasn't he—? Just now—? Under the fingers of his other hand, he felt wood. Old, slightly decayed wood. He was lying on a ground of wooden logs. There was a cool breeze… The sound of waves hitting the shore…

A seagull's cry…

"Hee hee hee!"

"Huh?"

Somebody was… giggling? This voice…

"There you are, big brother!"

No mistake. This was…

Link let his hand slide away from his face and opened his eyes. He found himself looking right into _her_ eyes. Those cheerful, energetic, big eyes.

And she laughed, "I knew you'd be here!"

"A-Aryll?" Link sat up. Really. That was his little sister, who was standing before him. It was really Aryll… "How—"

"Say, is sleeping up here re~ally that nice? Then again, I can really understand why you'd want to be up here! This is my favorite spot to gaze out at the sea too!"

"Y-Your favorite spot?"

Did this mean he was—? No way…

But as Link looked around, he found it to be true. He was on Outset Island. On top of the little platform his sister liked to call "Aryll's Lookout." The place the two of them had always played with each other. But…

But what was he doing here? "Aryll? How… How did I get here?! And… where are the others?"

"Huh?" Aryll slightly tilted her head to the side and gave him a puzzled look. "The others?"

"The other Link! And Eyne—you know, that little fairy! And Tetra was with us as well!"

"…Another Link? A fairy?... Big Brother, what is a 'Tetra'?"

When Link heard those words, he couldn't believe his ears. Angrily, he shook his head and started gesturing wildly. "Aryll! This is not funny, what if something ha—Huh?"

Link had caught a glimpse of his arm and stopped.

"M-My clothes…?"

Quickly, he looked down himself and was surprised to find himself not wearing his tunic or tights… but a blue shirt and orange pants.

"What…"

"Everyone's already waiting for you, Link!" Aryll told him with an excited tone in her voice. "We want to finally celebrate!"

"Celebrate? Celebrate what?" As Link gave her an absolutely clueless, slightly alarmed look, Aryll answered a little uneasily.

"...You're still half-asleep, aren't you?"

"Uhm?"

Those words… Wasn't that exactly what she said to him, when—No. That couldn't be… Something was wrong here. Deeply wrong…

"Did you forget? Big Brother…"

It couldn't be…

"…it's your birthday!"

Trying to back off in shock, Link tripped over his own feet and fell back onto the floor. But he got back up immediately afterwards. And his reaction to those words ended up being by far more intense than it had been when he had heard them back then for the first time. "But… But I… This can't be my… my—"

Seeing the shock in Link's eyes, Aryll herself started to look a little worried. "Ah? But, Big Brother, everybody has been talking about it for weeks! Because it's your special birthday, you know… Are you feeling well?"

This birthday… This one birthday…

All the scenes came flashing back to him. Aryll's smile, his reaction at the tunic, the Helmaroc King, Tetra, the kidnapping, him trying to jump after the bird to free Aryll…

Why was he here? How was go back to this one day? This was not possible… He could not have gone… back in time… could he? What did happen to the others then?

…This was when he got an idea.

"Link? Can we go down to Grandma now? She wanted to give you something…"

There was still worry in Aryll's voice. Link however, had other plans. "Aryll! Please give me your telescope!"

"Heh? Aww…" She looked at him in an upset manner. "How did you know? This was supposed to be a surprise!"

"Please!"

"Ahh… OK… But then we're going down to the others, alright?" Aryll handed her older brother the telescope, who took it without any words and used it to peer out to the sea. Aryll came to his side and gave him a curious look. "What are you searching for, Big Brother?" she asked.

"The ship…"

"What ship?"

"The pirate ship that should come any minute now!" Link answered. He then started talking more to himself than to Aryll, "If I make sure that you stay down here and that I still get to Tetra before Gonzo comes to pick her up, maybe I can persuade her that we know each other! With her powers… she might even remember me, if I'm lucky! Then we could find out what happened!"

"Uhm…" Aryll slightly tapped her brother on the back. "Link… there is no ship."

"But it has to be there! It was there back then!"

"You dreamt, Link."

"No, I didn't! It happened, it really happened… and now, I am…somehow…back to…"

"Link… come on…"

Hearing the sad tone in his sister's voice, Link let the telescope sink in surprise. He turned towards her.

Aryll was looking him right into the eyes. "Everybody is waiting for you to come and celebrate with us. Don't you want to celebrate?"

"Aryll…"

"Today is your special day. Everyone is looking forward to seeing you smile and laugh. We thought you'd be happy if we all together celebrated with you that you're an adult now. But now you're just standing up here and staring out to the ocean. I think it would be very sad if this whole day was lost just like this… don't you think so too?"

Link bit his lip. What was he supposed to do now? There was no way he could make Aryll sad. Just no way...On the other hand, he had to do something, or—

He looked into Aryll's eyes… her big, adorable eyes. He couldn't look away.

"Link… Mama and Papa are waiting too."

Link's breath stopped.

They... But…

No.

They were dead. His parents were dead. They couldn't be here… Link's eyes were getting wet as he looked at his sister.

… _Aryll… Why are you… saying this?_

…She, of all people? Why was Aryll lying? This was not… not funny in the slightest… This couldn't be real. Aryll would never say something as hurting as this… Lie to him like this… But…

Of course he wished that this was true. If Mama and Papa were really there… If Mama and Papa were really there to see him, to talk to him, to hold him…

But they were dead. They had been dead for 7 years now—6 by this day. And nothing was going to bring them back. Nothing was going to change this—

—A voice broke through Link's flow of thoughts.

"Link! Aren't you coming down, honey?"

This voice—

His heart skipped a beat. This voice was… he remembered it. It was just a weak memory… more like a feeling. He hadn't heard this voice ever since he had been small. But still, he knew who this voice was. No matter how faint and distant the memory had gotten by now. This voice was something he would not ever be able to truly forget. Nobody could.

This voice was his mother.

But how…?

Link found himself unable to move. Unable to even strain a single muscle. So he just stayed frozen in place as more words reached his ears.

"You're doing it all wrong, Marian! That's not how you get a big boy to come join his own party!"

"Well, what would you suggest then?"

"Well… Ah! Com'on, Link! Present time!!"

"What? You are messing up his values, Conis!"

"No, I am not. Pff… women…"

"Oh… Honey! Please come down! We would like to see your face~!"

Finally, Link found the strength to turn around, look behind him, down to the shore.

They were there.

They were just… there. Looking up to him, smiling, waving, calling his name. Link felt the tears gathering in his eyes… He trembled. What had he said just a few days back? _'I can't even remember anymore what my parents actually looked like'_? Yet he knew that it was them. His mother and his father… He just felt it.

This wasn't true, right? Why was he seeing this? Link stared at them for a few moments, but they wouldn't disappear. Finally he wanted to shake his head, as if to tell them, _'Go away, you are not real,'_ but he couldn't move it. And it didn't take him long to realize that this was, because he…he wanted this to be… real.

He wanted to go down. Fall into their arms and tell them about everything what happened. He wanted to say _"Mama, Papa, I love you and I missed you,"_ but he couldn't do that either. Because he knew that they were dead. They couldn't be real. This was the truth he grew up accepting.

What should he do? What could he do?

"Link…"

Aryll—

He turned around to face her again. "Are you… mad at us for something?" she asked carefully.

"…N-No…"

"Why don't you want to be with us then?"Her eyes already starting to get wet, Aryll lowered her head for a second, before she asked, "Don't you want to stay with us anymore? Will you leave us, now that you are a grown up?"

"Aryll…"

"All of us… Grandma, me, Mama and Papa? Everybody?"

"I… I don't…"

"Then… Let's go and celebrate now! Please!" She looked at him in worry and despair as she said this.

Aryll was his sister. He couldn't have said 'No' to her, even if he wanted and… he didn't want to. Yet, how was he supposed to—how could this all be—

But as Link looked into Aryll's eyes, those thoughts started to slip… And suddenly, completely different thoughts entered his mind. Maybe… Maybe Aryll was…

Maybe she was right…?

Maybe he really should just go down… celebrate… enjoy himself… What was keeping him from just doing this?

"And afterwards, we can play together. Of course only, if you want to… But I'd let you choose the game this time! Really! ... _You like playing with me, don't you?"_

"_O…of course… I like.. playing with you… Aryll…!"_

_Yes… probably Aryll was right._

_He dreamt. Of course, that how it had to be. He just dreamt everything. Of course, given how unrealistic it all had been… _

_A pirate girl… A princess?.... How hilarious. As if someone like him would ever meet a princess…_

_Him? A Hero?... No way…_

_Of course he'd just dreamt it. It seemed all so distant now anyway. And everybody… here was waiting… for him… Aryll… Grandma… his parents…_

"_I like you the best, Link," Aryll said._

"_I… like you the best too… Aryll…"_

"_Don't you wish we could forever stay together here? With everybody? And you will never have to leave…"_

_And he slowly nodded… he knew nothing anymore, except that what Aryll said was true. _

_And she… smiled._

_This had to be good then… right?_

* * *

—Sunrays.

The warm light of the sun was touching his fingers…

The hand those fingers belonged to—it was his left one—was covering his face… He felt sleepy.

Where did those sunrays come from all of the sudden? Wasn't he—? Just now—? Under the fingers of his other hand, he felt linen… He was lying in a bed. There was the sound of a bell faintly ringing… No, listened closer, those were… fairy wings?

"Hello! Wake up! ... Come on, get up!"

This voice… that couldn't be… was it? But how could he be mistaken? He knew this voice… just all to well… Yet, it… couldn't be…

Link let his hand slide away from his face and opened his eyes...

"Uhm…"

...And saw a small person with long, blue hair was hovering above him, smiling in bliss.

"You finally woke up!"

"Na-Navi?!"

As soon as the word had left his lips, Link opened his eyes wide and the surprise caused his upper body to fling up from the bed. "Navi!" he repeated. "Is that really you?!"

"Huh?"

Navi approached him a little more, slightly tapping her lips with her fingers when she heard his words. "Yes… my name is Navi. How did you—"

"NAVI! You don't know how worried I was for you!!"

"_Huh_!"

Much too fast, he took the little fairy and cuddled her like a doll. "Ah! Navi! Navi, Navi, Navi, Navi….Just where were you?!"

"Ungh… you…are… crushing… me…"

"—Oh! Sorry!"

Quickly, Link let go of the little, blue fairy, who then took a deep breath and sighed. She regained her smile rather soon though.

"Well, as for your question: The Great Deku Tree sent me," she said. "But why did you—"

"The Great Deku Tree… why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"Uhm… pardon?"

"Why didn't you tell me where you went, I mean!" He gave her a disappointed look. "You could have left at least some kind of message. I already thought—"

"Ah… excuse me, but… what are you talking about?" Navi slightly tilted her head, as the already puzzled expression on her face started to become even more apparent. "Link, I am very glad that you, uhm… seem to like me already, but I can't really follow what you are saying… How did you know my name? And how did you know that I'd come? Did one of the other Kokiri tell you?"

"The… The Kokiri?"

Just now, Link realized where he was. In his treehome in the Kokiri forest. And everything was neat and tidy… not a hint of decay or destruction.

"What…"

In surprise, Link jumped out of his bed and ran to the window. He pulled the curtain beside and opened it...

He looked down and saw the lively, beautiful village of the ever-young Kokiri children. The place he spent his childhood.

A girl noticed him by the window and waved. "Hey! Good morning, Link!"

"Up before noon for once, sleepyhead? Haha!"

"'Morning, Link!"

"How are ya?"

Dumbstruck, Link raised his hand and, after some hesitation, waved down at the children under his window…

The village… The Kokiri… It was all still there…

How?

"Hey!"

Navi approached from behind. "Hey, come on, tell me! How did you know my name? Who told you that you'd get your fairy today? The Great Deku Tree?"

"T-Today?!"

Link quickly turned to Navi and shook his head. "But Navi, we were together! Don't you remember? We were partners and…"

"Wait, don't tell me… you have the ability to foresee things to come?" Sheer awe took over all of Navi's expression as she excitedly started to circle his head. "This is amazing! Really amazing! My first time doing this job, and I'm already getting the Kokiri with the special abilities! I must be, like, the luckiest fairy ever!"

"But…"

Finally she stopped right in front of his face and stretched her hand out, as if she wanted him to shake it. "Excuse me, I guess I got carried away a little… OK, once again! I am the fairy Navi. The Great Deku Tree sent me to be your guardian fairy from now on! Nice to meet you!"

"The Great Deku Tree sent you to…" Link couldn't believe what he was hearing. "This means I'm… I'm back to… that day! I'm at _that_ day again!"

"Huh?" Navi seemed confused. "What day?"

"T-The day I first left!" he exclaimed excitedly. "The day I met you, and then the Great Deku Tree—_the Great Deku Tree_!!"

As the realization of what he was just about to say struck Link, he pushed himself away from the wall, dashed over to the other side of the room, grabbed his pack and rushed out of the door. "Quickly…"

"Hey!" Navi followed him. "Where are you going, Link?"

"To the Great Deku Tree!!" he shouted. "If I get going right now, I may be able to save him this time!!"

"What? Oh—Wait a second!" Navi hovered before his face, as if to stop him from just running off. "Listen, I don't know how you got the idea, but the Great Dekutree is fine! He sent me to protect and lead you and be a good compa—"

"No, Navi, the Deku Tree will die, if I don't… Let me through!"

He ran past the fairy, who right away started following him again. "Link!"

But Link was already sliding down the ladder and about to run to the Deku Tree's part of the forest, when somebody came his way and greeted him. "Yahoo! Hi, Link!"

Link stopped. "S-Saria…" A sudden smile crossed his face, as he jumped and hugged her. "Saria! You're alright! And I already thought…"

"W-What?" Absolutely dumbfounded by her dear friend's reaction, Saria jumped back a little. "Link…? Errm… Are _you_ alright?"

"Oh—Yes, of course, that never happened now…" He remembered and then blushed in embarrassment. "Uhm…sorry! Forget I just did that!"

"Forgotten," she said with an agreeing, quick nod.

"Saria… Saria!" He looked at her seriously. "Please! I am going to tell you something very important now and you have to believe me! The Deku Tree is about to die! If we want to save him, we have to act quickly and you—of course, you are the future sage! You might be able to help him!"

"Uhm… Uhm…"

With a shocked look in her eyes, Saria first backed off... but then, she approached him again and put her hand to his forehead. "Do you have a fever…"

"I'm not sick!" Link exclaimed. "I'm saying the truth, really! The Dekutree is going to—"

"Hey! He~y!!" a voice shouted from behind, "At least wait for me, Link!!"

Navi came, looking exhausted and slightly nervous. "Link, why are you just running of like this? We have to stay together now that I am your partner, you know?"

"Wow!"Saria looked up with a big smile. "A fairy! Finally a fairy came to you, Link! That's great news! I'm so happy for you! Now you are a true Kokiri."

"Oh… Oh yes! Saria, that's Navi!" he quickly introduced them.

Navi politely bowed. "Pleased to meet you!" Saria and her own fairy bowed as well, but more out of fun than politeness.

"Navi!" Link got his fairy's attention again. "Look, I'm sorry I almost left you behind, but we have no time to lose! I mean… Wait... Actually, you _should_ know how serious it is!"

He gave her an accusing look, but all Navi could return was a look of utter confusion. "Uhm… no… actually, I do not know how serious it is… What is so serious?"

"Argh!!" This was a waste of time. "Excuse me!!" Passing by Saria, Link just ran on the way he had intended to go, through the whole village, ignoring the Kokiri's greetings and crossing the river in merely two jumps. When he found the exit that led to the Great Dekutree, Mido was standing there in the way… just like back on that day.

He raised his hand in the air. "Heya, Li—"

"Yes, yes, I know, I am a non-Kokiri loser with no sword or shield, but could you please, _please_ just let me through here?! The fate of the forest depends on it!"

"Heh?" Mido didn't look any less confused than Saria before him. "Why should I not let you through, Link? Also, if you're worrying for the Great Deku Tree, you're worrying for nothing. He's fine. I just saw him five minutes ago."

"What?!" Link himself didn't know if he had said 'What' at Mido apparently being _nice_ to him or the claim that the Great Dekutree was alright. "But… But…"

"He's right, Link!" Navi just managed to catch up with him again. "I just came from the Great Dekutree! There is absolutely no need to worry about him, really!"

"But… But why did he send you then?!" Link asked in disbelief.

This all made… no sense. Why was everything different all of the sudden?

Navi just smiled at him calmly. "Because you were in need of a fairy! All Kokiri need one! Oh, yes, I was also supposed to deliver the Great Deku Tree's apologies to you because you had been left out for such a long time. It's just that you happen to get the short end of the stick when there were no fairies left to be assigned. But it had nothing to do with you in personal, really! So…"

She bowed deeply. "In the name of the Great Deku Tree, I apologize for every inconvenience we have caused you!"

Link remained silent. He didn't know what to answer. Or what to think. Why…

"Wow!" Mido looked up to Navi in awe. "I can't believe it. Link's got a fairy now?"

"Yes!" Saria jumped across the river. She had apparently followed Link. "Isn't that great? She was suddenly with him when he left his house today!"

"So, you're a man now, huh?"

"Uhm…"

Link looked rather dumbfounded when Mido actually offered him his hand. "Congratulations! Well, we should tell the happy news everybody else quickly, shouldn't we?"

"Oh, yes, we could celebrate with a little party!" Saria suggested joyfully. "And Link gets to pick the games we play! We'll all enjoy ourselves and have nice day! What do you say, Link?" She smiled at him in pure bliss.

"Saria…" Link felt a heavy lump in his throat. He hesitated for a few seconds, before he finally said, "I am sorry, but… I have to confess something to all of you. I actually don't belong here. I am not really a Kokiri!"

"Hm?" Saria tilted her head a little, as she examined him from head to toe and declared, "But you look like us, are dressed like us, and now, you've even got a fairy, Link. Why are saying such weird stuff? Did you have some kind of nightmare today?"

"Saria, please, you have to be-"

But Saria looked him right into the eyes. Focused her eyes on his.

"Or… is it just that you don't want to stay here anymore? Are you planning on… leaving us?"

Link wanted to answer, but—when he saw Saria's eyes… just her eyes… He forgot what he had wanted to say.

Why… why was he even worried? The Great Deku Tree was fine, so… Why had he even been worried about him in the first place? Oh yes… there was something about him… that he was going to leave the forest and find out that he was… not a Kokiri?

But… there was absolutely no difference between him and the others… How did he get such a weird idea? Who told him? … Probably he just dreamt it.

Yes, of course, he dreamt. That's how it had to be. He had a nightmare. A horrible, long nightmare… Thankfully, the memory was slipping now…

"Link, why are you saying those things?" Navi asked sadly. "Do you really want to leave? But the outside world is dangerous! We just became partners… I wanted to be your partner for all the years to come so badly… Or… do you want to get rid of me again? Is it because of me that you want to leave all of the sudden? _If it's because of me… I'll… I'll just leave again, alright?"_

"_N-No!" he said. "Navi… don't go again…I want you to be my partner… I… really do…"_

_Leaving… Why did everybody think he would want to leave? He had no reason to leave… and he didn't want to. He wanted to stay… With Saria, with Navi… with everybody… _

_Had he said that he would leave? If so, why did he? He couldn't recall it… Had he been worried for something maybe? But for what? The forest was safe… safe and beautiful… If he stayed here, nothing could happen. He was safe. Along with everybody else._

"_Come Link, we'll all celebrate together!" Saria said. "Isn't that what you want to do?"_

"_Yes… I really… want to…"_

"_You know… we can celebrate and play every day, if we want to. We are Kokiri, there is nothing we have to worry about. Nothing we have to fear. Nobody can harm any one of us here and there is never a reason to cry. And we've got all the time of the world. You can stay forever, if you just want. And you'll never have to leave…"_

_And he slowly nodded… he knew nothing anymore, except that what Saria said was true. _

_And she… smiled._

_This had to be good then… right?_

_

* * *

_

_Isn't that wonderful?_

_You don't have to worry. _

_You don't have to fight anymore._

_No more blood will be shed. _

_We can play. You can play with us forever. _

_Don't worry… we're there. _

_Everybody is with you._

_You don't have to be a hero._

_You don't have to change. _

_You don't have to leave your home. _

_Everybody is here with you, smiling. _

_You won't have to leave anyone behind._

_No one._

…_No one…?_

_But… wasn't there somebody… missing?..._

_A name… a name wanted to come through, but it couldn't reach through the sea of thoughts…_

_You can stay forever. _

_And do what you want._

_Nobody can force you to do things you don't want to do here._

_Nobody can hurt you here._

_This is your freedom. _

…_Freedom? This sounded great…_

_No!_

…_What?_

_Link, this is no freedom! _

_Link!_

_Whose voice was this? Who…?_

_Link, you have to stay free!_

_You can only stay you if you keep part of your freedom!_

_Forever trapped in a fantasy of wishes and desires…_

_Where you neither think nor really feel…_

_This is no freedom!_

_Link, if you stay here, you'll lose yourself!_

_Who… Who was this girl?_

_Who could it be?_

_Not Aryll…_

_Not Saria or Navi…_

_Don't let this happen, please!_

_Everyone needs you, Link!_

_Please don't let us alone! _

_You… You promised to come back!_

_Her… Her name…_

_Her name was…_

…_I still believe that you will one day come and truly save me, Link!_

"_ZELDA!"_

They opened their eyes.

The boys found themselves in the middle of an incredibly thick mist…

"Where are we…?" Kaze asked. He felt that Toki was standing by his back.

And it was Toki who answered, "An illusion…" He paused. "Wizrova tried to trap us in our own desires… but, in order to erase our memory of our herohood, she also had to erase one important person… and this is where she failed."

"Yes," Kaze nodded. "I could never forget her, even if I tried. I promised her, I'd…"

"Me too," Toki agreed. "I will never forget her…"

"Hee hee hee…"

When they heard the laughter, the boys turned around alarmed. They wanted to draw their swords, but found them missing. Kaze was still wearing casual clothes… They were just the way they had been when they awoke in the illusion. They heard steps…

"Big Brother…?"

Aryll approached them through the mist. "Are you leaving? But you said you wouldn't. This isn't fair!"

"I…"

"Don't listen to her!" Toki shouted. "It's not the real Aryll, don't let her deceive you!"

"But, Link…"

Saria stepped out of the mist. "I thought we were friends… if you are leaving now, how long won't you return? One year? Seven years? Forever?"

Toki backed off… He covered his ears with his hand. Not listen… he just had to not listen to her… But another voice reached him.

"Link, I wanted to be your guardianfairy so badly… Why aren't you staying? Everybody wants you to."

"Even Mido," Saria added. "Nobody will laugh at you. You're not different."

"Everybody is waiting for you, big brother. Mama and Papa too." Aryll took a step forward.

Saria did the same. "Everybody wants to play with you and laugh with you. Everybody is glad to have you around."

"Nobody is expecting anything from you, Link," Navi said. "And if you stay, you can do whatever you want."

"Link!"

"Link!"

"Link!"

"W-What should I do?..." Kaze shouted, as he was holding his head with his hands. "I… I can't just send Aryll away… I can't… I…"

"Saria… Navi…" Toki couldn't take much more either. "Stop this!! I don't want to fight with you! No…"

"Heheh…"

The girls approached slowly and reached their hands out to the boys.

"Then come back with us. This what you want to do, right?"

The… friendly… warm… eyes of the girls…

…But what would become of Zelda?

But they couldn't resist the eyes…

Their bodies stopped obeying them as they reached out their hands and…

* * *

"…I can't hear anything anymore…"

Tetra had listened the battle in the sealed chamber for all the time, when everything suddenly fell silent. "W-What is going on?" She gulped. "Why did the noise stop? If they defeated the monster, the door would open, so… No… No, they can't be…"

Tetra took a short step back, staring at the solid stone wall that separated her from the room the boys were in. She trembled for a second, before she started to shout from the top of her lungs.

"Link!!" she screamed. "Link, what is going on in there?! Answer me!! Link! LINK!!"

But she got no answer. Tetra starred at the door in shock. No… no, he couldn't be. Not now. Not here…

"Open…" she whispered… "Open… you… you damn…"

She glared at the door. Glared like it was her worst enemy. And in that very moment, she felt like it was. This door made her helpless. Caused her yet again to be unable to act. She hated this door. She hated it with all passion.

"OPEN!" she screamed and started to hit her fists against the door. "Let me through! LET ME THROUGH!"

As Tetra delivered one last, powerful punch against the door, she suddenly felt a sensation she did not remember ever feeling before. Her hand touched the door and… lit up in a bright light. And so did the cold stone beneath her fingers. Tetra watched in surprise and awe, while the huge stone plate suddenly started to rise again, revealing the room behind it... Slow and steady, until the doorway was completely open again.

But how? Tetra starred at her hands for a second… Did she… do this?

…There was no time to worry about that now!

"Link!!"

Tetra drew her cutlass and rushed into the room. When she entered it, she saw why the boys hadn't answered her calls: Motionless and staring blankly into the air, they stood there, before this little...

…this must have been the monster. Completely focused and with closed eyes, the weird girl was holding a shining crystal between her hands. She may have looked like a girl, but it was clearly her doing this to the boys… the one who put them into this state. Tetra gritted her teeth in anger. She would show this beast. And she exactly knew how.

She took her bow. Picked an arrow. Drew the bow.

"This will show you…" she whispered, as she locked on the target: The shining crystal in the monster's hands. "LIGHT!"

She let go and was surprised by the enormous feedback she got. It was a lot stronger than usual. And the arrow was so bright, she had to shield her eyes once it shot away. But she was rewarded with a loud scream that echoed through the whole room just a second later:

"KYAAA!"

* * *

A loud, ear shattering scream reached the boys the last second before their hands were about to touch the girl's.

Aryll faded.

Saria faded.

Navi faded.

And the mist around them shattered like glass.

* * *

They opened their eyes. This time for real.

They saw Wizrova before them in the floor, screaming and writhing with pain. Around them were the stone walls and the stone floor of the Water Temple again. As Kaze looked down at his body to find himself dressed in tunic and tights, Toki touched behind him and found his sword and shield, much to his relief.

"What…What happened?" he asked. "How did we…"

"Look!" Kaze pointed at the arrow that was stuck in the little witch's crystal. This could only mean…

The boys turned around. Once again, the archer revealed herself to be Tetra, who looked at them with slightly slanted eyes.

"As I said…" she told them. "Not even two minutes. I can't leave you out of sight for _two minutes_."

"T-Tetra?" Kaze was rather surprised. "How did you open the door?"

"Ha. Ask me something I know," she answered. "Anyway, I just made it in time… _again_… What kind of heroes are you anyway?!" She shook her head in disbelief as Kaze was seemingly searching for words of defense but couldn't find any. Tetra was right and he couldn't deny it. She'd saved their lives. Again.

"Uhm…"

In the meantime, Wizrova had managed to get rid of the arrow stuck in her red crystal and get back on her feet. Using some of her remaining power (which was few, but still there), she healed the damage the arrow had caused… and listened to Tetra's insulting words to the boys. Her smile reappeared. As the Links and Tetra were still talking and distracted, she rose up into the air again and prepared to attack…

Eyne came out from under Kaze's hat. "Huh! Caution!!"

She got the boy's attention this way and they turned around. As they noticed the witch wasn't quite dead yet, they drew their swords and went into their battle stance.

"You again…" Kaze declared loudly, as he made a fist, which started to tremble right away: "I am always fighting fair… but you… Aryll… you dared to use Aryll against me… you..." He glared at her "No matter what happens now, you are dead!! That's what I promise to _you_!"

"Leave a piece of her for me!", Toki shouted "Abusing my memory of the Kokiri like this… and Navi…I can and will not forgive this!!"

Wizrova, however, was paying no attention to them. Instead, her eyes rested somewhere completely different…

On Eyne.

"Clinging, hm?"

"W-What?..."

Eyne backed off a little when she heard this. Wizrova then started to say in a singsong voice:

"_Clinging, wavering, faltering~, _

_"Attaching and doubting and halting~,_

_"But you still know that red is the color of death,_

_"Do you, do you? Hm, hm, hm?"_

For a short moment there, Eyne seemed very startled, but this shock rapidly changed into anger. "S… Shut up!!" she shouted and clenched her fists. "I… know exactly what I have to do! You hear me?!"

"Hm?...Heheh…"

Interested, Wizrova watched Eyne flying back over to the Links and telling them, "Boys!! She has got three jewels focusing her powers! One focuses her defensive abilities, one focuses her offensive abilities… and the third one focuses her energy! If you hit that one, she's done for!"

"Where is it?" Kaze asked and Eyne pointed at the spot.

"On her forehead! It's rather small, but I'm sure you can hit it! I believe in you!"

"Got it!"Tetra and the Links exchanged glances and nods, before all three of them took their bows and drew. They locked on the target and exclaimed, "LIGHT!"

Three shining arrows shot away, right towards the hovering witch and the group had to cover their eyes as they hit their goal… Or so they thought. Reality looked a bit different when they opened their eyes again and saw their arrows stuck in the wall on the other side of the room… No trace of Wizrova.

"She escaped?" Kaze asked.

"Teleported," was Toki's explanation. "We took too long and gave her too much time to prepare… darn…"

"_Heheheh…"_

"Huh?"The boys looked around, but they failed to spot the little witch anywhere as her voice went on.

"_You can't kill a shadow_, _you know_." she said. "_If you do, the owner will cast a new one._ _But then again, without an owner, who is supposed to cast it, hm? Heheh…_"

The voice paused a second.

"_This was fun! Will you play with me again soon? Tee hee hee!"_

As the laughter faded, something suddenly fell down from the ceiling and landed on the floor. Surprised, the Links and Tetra rushed over to examine it. It was three blue, round stones.

"Those must be the keys to the sage!" Tetra realized and picked them up. "Now we just need the altar… Boys?"

She turned around to them with slight worry in her eyes. "Are you alright?" She had noticed that both of them were holding their head, as if they head a headache. Which they actually had.

"…Yeah… Yes, it's alright again now…" Kaze nodded slowly.

Toki sighed, "I'm just glad that this is over..."

_Over._

Kaze looked up. That's right! They had the key now and only needed the altar to free Ruto. This meant... This was his last chance. He had to think. Fast…

"The altar has to be somewhere around here!" Eyne exclaimed. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

What was it that made him want to tell this other boy that he was looking up to him? What was the reason? Maybe…

"Huh?!"

Tetra had grabbed Eyne by the wings. "What is your problem? Don't stress us! The world is not gonna end right now!"

"B-But it's about to in minutes!!" she claimed.

Maybe…

"Minutes, huh?" Toki looked angrily into Eyne's eyes. "As if."

"Ah—?"

"OK. What is the true reason you are in such a hurry to find the altar? And don't lie. I can tell."

"…"

"I finally got it!"

And with this, all attention suddenly belonged to Kaze, who had a big smile on his face.

"What?" Tetra asked. "Did you find the altar?"

"No… I…Toki!" He approached Toki a little and looked him into the eyes. He smiled.

"I wanted to tell you something."

Surprised, the other boy just looked at his friend, as he closed his eyes and said calmly, "You know… All the time you claimed that you still felt like a kid. And you also acted a lot like I would… for some time, I really felt like I suddenly had a twin brother! And it was fun. But… every now and then, you acted in a way I would never be able to act… so controlled, aware of everything and yet you were able to keep cool…this… this "other side" you showed… this was the adult 'you,' right?"

Toki said nothing, but just listened as Kaze went on.

"You and me… We are supposed to be the same, right? But you know what the difference between us is? I am still a kid; you are a kid right now too, but you are not just that. You have an adult side to you as well, that shows whenever it is needed the most. That side of you is so much stronger than I could ever be yet. I have still a lot to learn before I'm anywhere near matching the 'strength' of that other side of you…"

He finally opened his eyes again. "And you know what? That adult side you showed… I like it a lot. I… I really hope I will grow up to be like this as well!"

Kaze ended his speech with a big, heartfelt smile. And, after gazing at him in a touched way for a few seconds, Toki returned the smile.

"Thank you. For everything."

"Boys…?" Tetra approached them. "What is going on? You talk like…"

"Have you found the altar yet, Tetra?" Kaze asked quickly.

"Well…" Tetra pointed to the middle of the room, where the podium that Wizrova had "abused" as a throne was. Of course… this was the most obvious place. Why didn't they search there right away? "But first, why are you two talking like—"

The boys just ran past her to the podium. Something was written on it. And, seeing the ancient Hylian symbols again, Kaze frowned. "What does it say?" he asked.

Toki read and laughed a little bit. "Ruto… you're never gonna change, right?"

"Huh?" Kaze bent down, but this, of course, didn't help him read the symbols. "What? What is it?"

Toki blushed a little bit at this question. "I am not going to read _that_ out aloud," he said. "But, basically…" he finished reading the text, "We need to arrange the three blue stones in the shape of the Zora's Saphire… Zelda, would you please give them to me?"

Wordlessly, probably still wondering (and maybe even suspecting) why the boys had behaved like they did just now, Tetra passed the three blue stones on to Toki, who then arranged them in the right spots on the altar.

"Is it working, is it, is it?!" Eyne asked hysterically.

"Yes, yes, it will work, just calm down!!" Kaze told her, while he saw Toki throwing her that look again. And he sighed. Yes, it was true, Eyne was behaving suspiciously...but it didn't matter now anymore anyway. Feeling a certain satisfaction, he watched as the altar lit up in a bright blue light and started to change. In a few seconds, the last sage would be awoken. Then everything would be over. They would bid Toki farewell and go to the Fairy Queen to report their victory. Everything would be well. And so he observed with his friends, as the shape of the Sage of Water, the Zora Princess Ruto formed…

And both he and Tetra gasped.

Kaze had seen a Zora before, of course: Laruto, Sage of Earth, but… this Ruto… she was completely different. While Laruto had looked somewhat mysterious, but had been no one who would stay on your mind for your long time because of her appearance, Ruto was exactly that. Not that Kaze would have wanted to get stalked by her, heck no, but there was no denying that she was a beauty, especially considering that she actually shouldn't fit human standards. She certainly deserved the title "Princess," at least based on her looks…

And now, she was about to open her eyes… slowly…

Apparently still somewhat drowsy, she looked down at them. "…Link?...Huh!" Ruto jerked as soon as she heard the sound of her own voice. Shock appeared in her eyes. "M-My seal was broken!?"

Somewhat reluctantly, Toki took a step forward and bowed. "Princess Ruto… it's an honor to meet you aga—"

"This… This shouldn't have happened!"

"Hm?" In confusion, the group looked up to her as the Sage of Water started to panic.

"Link! Us… The other sages noticed too late! It was a trap! Now that all 6 seals have been broken, they can—"

"Oh, shut up, will you?"

"Ah!"

And this was moment when a strong wind suddenly blew through the room, focused, and finally caught Ruto.

"H-Hel—" She couldn't end the word because by that time, the solid crystal shell had appeared around her. She was pounding against it, but not even a sound reached outside.

"Sage Ruto!" Tetra shouted in shock.

"A-A trap?!" Kaze shook his head in disbelief. "But... how… why…we thought… we…"

"Heheh…"

Kaze stopped and shuddered… Behind him… There was someone laughing behind him…

"This was almost too easy… You… Both of you… I never would have dreamt that someone the goddesses have chosen could be such a naïve kid!"

This voice…

Kaze turned around and found its owner.

Eyne.

But the expression on her face wasn't nervous, hectic, or the humble smile he was used of her. The smile she showed right now… seemed to taunt him. And her eyes had lost the childlike shine they had before.

"Thank you for being so gullible!"

"What…?"

"_Get away from her!_" Toki shouted in panic. "_She's a sylph!!_"

"A wha—"

Kaze couldn't end the sentence, because a shock silenced him before he had a chance to.

_---Note_

_WOOT! We broke the 100-review mark! And that 3 chapters before the german version did back then! OMG, thank you, everybody! ^^ This is truely awesome! I am aware that my writting is not nearly as good as that of many other authors on here, so I'm really glad that you are reading this story regardless. I feel very honored. ^^  
_

_Well, what can I say? Looks like the Links got backstabbed by the Exposition Fairy. This could have been avoided, but, oh, well, they are Link. Same guy who thought Princess Zelda's idea to __**open**__ the Sacred Realm, so Ganondork could waltz right in and grab the Triforce, was __**genius**__. _

_I tried to write Wizrova as a strong, yet balanced enemy, with enough weaknesses to make up for her overkill strength. You might have already noticed that her physical defense equals Zero (which is why she's fond of Teleportation orgies) and that Light Arrows, naturally, render her powerless. For matter of the fact: Had the Links used a Light Arrow to burn the jewel on her head, rather than a Fire Arrow, she wouldn't have had the power to put them through the Mind Rape that followed. But they didn't and had to pay the consequences. _

_Ah, the Mind Rape. One of my FAVORITE scenes in the whole Fanfiction. ^^ Imagine this: You have the choice between spending your life with either everything you ever wished for on hand, or a as someone who is doomed to slay monster after monster after monster after monster after monster, until he is lucky enough to finally bite the dust- Just to have the whole game start over again a 100 years latter in another body. What would you choose? Hm? Hm? __**HM?!**_

_Heheh, I hyped you up for some Ruto-comedy and all you get is a Plot Twist that resets the Links' progress behind zero! Have at you! ^^_

_Again, thanks to the stand-in-Betareader. You're doing an awesome job, my friend, de-narmifying those chapters! ^^_


	30. Unsealed

Chapter 29:

Unsealed

Kaze knew perfectly well about the incredible abilities wind could unleash when controlled properly. It could steadily carry your boat across the seas, but could also lift it up with brute force and cause it to travel a far distance in an amazingly short time this way. It could also be used as a weapon. Not the strongest weapon he'd ever used, but a rather good one. Yes, he knew what wind could do… at least he thought he did.

He was the one who's been given control over the winds by a deity itself. So why was it that he never knew that you could do _this_ with wind?

The impact on the floor felt just as painful as the one on the wall he had barely half an hour ago and he could clearly feel his number of bruises increasing as he hit the cold stone.

"Link!!" It was Tetra who came run up to him and tried to help him get up. "Link, can you stand up?! Open your eyes!" she shouted.

"Uhm…" Kaze looked up. He raised his upper body from the ground. What just happened? He knew that what his memory told him couldn't be right. It had to be mistaken. Because his memory showed him how Eyne… a fairy—

"Heheheh… Did I make you a little dizzy? Oh! I'm so terribly sorry! Hahaha!"

Sarcasm in a voice he would have never thought to hear it in. Kaze shook his head and got, aided by Tetra, up from the hard floor. When he opened his eyes, the owner of the voice was there, just at the same spot he had seen her before. The dissonance between her appearance and the malevolent look in her eyes was astonishing.

"Eyne…" For a few second, Kaze stared at her in disbelief as he tried to validate that his memory indeed was not cheating him.

But he didn't want to.

"Eyne!" he repeated, as he closed his eyes and shouted at her, "What was that about!? T-That's not funny! Stop it!"

Kaze wanted to go up to her when Toki stopped him. "Stay away from her!" The Hero of Time rushed to his friend's side and drew his sword. That specific glare, now more irate than ever before, had reappeared in his eyes.

Kaze just proceeded to shake his head. "Toki, what—"

"Don't you get it?!" he shouted. "She tricked us! She never actually wanted to help us!" He turned back to looking at the fairy before them and piercing her with his glare.

"She's a sylph. A kind of elemental fairy, who help the spirits of nature to maintain the balance." Toki pointed his sword at Eyne. "…The one who caused the storm on the way to Mother and Child Isles to escalate… That was you, right?!"

"W-What?" In disbelief, Kaze kept alternately looking at Toki and Eyne. The fact that a satisfied smirk went across her face after Toki mentioned the storm didn't escape him.

She crossed her arms and laughed, "I knew you had a clue all along. Why you were dumb enough to let me live though, is another question, but, well... when did you figure it out, kid?"

"Just now," Toki admitted, without loosening the tension in his face. "I suddenly remembered that one tale about the elemental fairies that the Deku Tree once told us… That's when I realized that this must have been how you cleaned the mirror on Outset and summoned that breeze when we met Tetra. You appear to be among the ranks of a Guidance Fairy, wearing Nayru's crest… but Guidance Fairies and similar ranks are limited to the most basic magic and can't use elemental powers. You must be a sylph, there's no other explanation."

"Hm. Yeah, I admit, the symbol of cycles was probably not the _best_ choice for a disguise… Oh, why did I even bother? What a waste of energy…"

With a quick tap on her shoulder, the blue mark disappeared into nothingness. Less than a split-second latter, the color of the fairy's light, as well as her hair, bleached out to a weak grey. She sighed, relieved. "Ah… Finally, I don't have to hold that up any longer."

"So, you were expelled by the deity you actually served?" Toki concluded.

"Huh." She put her hands to her waist. "'Expelled' is not really the right word. Never even knew her in personal. That's just what happens to a fairy who chooses not to serve her deity any longer. But it's not that bad…" Her eyes downright sparkled, as she opposed Toki's glare with a malevolent smile. "I happily trade a little mark and some color for the power to do everything I ever wanted!"

"That… That can't be…" Carefully, Kaze approached her one step, not believing what he just heard and reluctant to speak on. "You… were the one who caused this storm to…? That was…_you_… ?"

"Wow, you really are incredibly slow, aren't you?" Eyne laughed. "Yes, I have to admit, opposing the powers of the sacred Wind Waker was quite a huge challenge and your other self fluting around on that Ocarina of his didn't exactly make it any easier. I had to get rid of your baton, so I took the chance and summoned a gust. Sadly, your dear princess just had to go try catch it. I actually didn't intend to make her go overboard, but, well, can't do a thing about stupidity, I guess…"

Kaze fell silent… This… was just a misunderstanding, right? …No… He had to face it. Like he should have faced it hours ago.

…It was true. They were being backstabbed by an ally. Right now and here. It was happening.

"You…" Toki tightened his grip on his sword. "So all you wanted was for us to release the seals on the sages, so you could capture them? Why would you want to do this?"

"I wouldn't even have needed you to do this," she replied and shrugged, smiling. "We would have broken the seals ourselves sooner or later anyway. Actually, I was just sent to kill you. It was just so incredibly more convenient that way! Not to mention interesting!"

As Kaze just weakly shook his head in confusion at the situation, Tetra and Toki, both, unlike him, ready to use their weapons anytime, exchanged quick glances and nodded. They could have attacked right away… But they knew that every bit of information Eyne gave them in her sudden, overflowing self-confidence could prove invaluable later on. So they decided to let their blades rest, yet stay alert until the fairy tried to take action, at which point they would be the first ones to attack regardless…

She fixed her eyes on the boys. "If it makes you happy, not _everything_ I told you was a lie. I was really sent by the fairy queen—originally, at least. But I never followed her orders. Not a single minute… No, I follow…my mistresses…"

"And those would be…?" Toki asked provokingly, in a tone that suggested that the 'mistresses' didn't exist. Of course, he really wanted to tempt her to reveal more about those women's identities by doing so, but this failed, as he didn't receive an answer. She just ignored his question and resumed her speech.

"…who have one great goal: To be granted access to all ages that ever existed. It would have been so simple… You probably don't know this, but the thousandth jubilee of the events of the great Imprisoning War caused the seal that was placed on the Door of Time to be severely weakened for several days. Using this natural weakness, we were able to cause the ages to touch and slowly unite in this one. If it had went as smoothly like planned, old and new would have mixed and been overwritten by each other. All that prevented this from happening were the guarding powers of the sages and… you."

Her eyes hit Kaze, who felt an uncomfortable, cold sensation going through his body, less due to the way that she was looking at him than due to what she was talking about, and Toki, who focused all his attention on listening to what the fairy had to say. Potentially invaluable information. This was all the reason he needed not to charge against her right away. Being informed what exactly was happening when and how was a crucial thing. And from the sound of it, she was getting to a really crucial point now…

"You see, the six sages' unbroken seal on Hyrule's magic also prevented the previous Hyrule to reappear or replace anything in this present. Additionally, the united sages are a force powerful enough to match the mistresses' strength. Getting them out of our way was first priority. Well, now they are."

Eyne flew over to the large crystal, where Ruto was still trying to somehow escape her prison. Her movement, however, was already getting weaker. Eyne smiled and laughed behind her hand. "Don't waste your time, Zora Princess. This spell was designed to capture far mightier creatures than you. You can pound all you want; it won't work."

The sound isolation seemingly only worked one way, since Ruto started to glare at the fairy through the glass-like walls. She then angrily opened her mouth and apparently shouted something, but not a single word got through, making her seem quite ridiculous.

Toki quickly turned towards her and whispered, "Princess Ruto!"

Despite the low volume, she noticed him and looked down to the boy, as he rather silently told her, "We will get you out of there. Don't worry."

A hopeful, yet weak smile passed over the Zora woman's face. Either she was actually able to hear him through the crystal, or she was just very glad to see his face.

"So, where was I… oh yes, the other thing that keeps the plan from working!"

As Eyne floated back to where she had been before, Toki seriously wondering what she thought this rambling would accomplish her. If she was trying to be impressive, she was doing a rather bad job—

Except for the effect she had on Kaze. Even though he seemed to slowly snap out of it, he still stood there rather stiff and startled. Toki felt tempted to help him in any kind of way, but he didn't want to lose any unnecessary words now. They might stop Eyne from continuing her speech (for whatever reason she was holding it).

"Well, we were prepared for the sage' getting in our way...what we were not prepared for was _your meddling_ with your resurfacing sealed memories." The last few words sounded downright hissed. "Rebirth is a complex process, but one of its most important aspects is that all previous memories are naturally sealed, in order to allow the spirit to develop a new 'self', untarnished by every previous experience. This kind of 'seal' is part of the structure of time itself. So when the structure of time weakened, the old memories were starting to leak through. They would have eventually gained dominance and suppressed your current ones, but apparently _you _didn't like that, right? So you just had to go and make some stupid wish like a little kid. "

Finally Kaze said something again. "…The wish?" He put his hand to his chest… that night… He had conducted the lullaby Tetra always sang… He did it and made a wish… he wished…

"You wished to meet the legendary Hero of Time. Wanted to learn from him, didn't you?"

…Wrong. That wasn't what he wanted back then. He had wanted to meet him, but not so he could learn from him how to become stronger or more skilled. When he made this wish, he wanted…

"To be fair, I honestly believe that the song would have never any effect under normal circumstances. But those circumstances were not normal. Time itself was struggling to remain in balance."

…_He wanted to know what kind of person that hero had been. What kind of problems this person had to struggle with, what this person had seen and actually went through… he wanted to know, if this person really resembled him in any way… _

"You have to imagine time like a web. If even one knot is refusing to open, the whole structure dissolves a whole lot less easily. The seal on your memories was a crucial knot to be opened. So…"

_...if he was anything like that person…_

"…your wish was granted and used as loophole to prevent the overwriting of your present memories…"

…_He had wanted to know more about himself._

"…By extracting the set of memories most dangerous to push yours into oblivion from your soul...it was given a human shape."

A gesture towards Toki followed.

"Huh…?" Slowly Kaze turned to the side. "T-Toki…?"

Toki had slightly opened his mouth without saying something. He didn't look frightened… merely a little surprised. Finally, he enclosed his left hand in his right one and said rather quietly, "So… that's how I'm here."

"Toki…"

"_This_ is why I can't leave your side." He turned towards Kaze and said the sentence with a bit of amazement, "I understand… I don't have any life force on my own, because my body is a copy created from my own memories… That's why I have to share yours!"

There was a hint of guilt in his voice, as he said that. Why guilt? He hadn't done anything.

Kaze didn't get it. Now he had this person by his side, and he still couldn't understand it. Just like how he couldn't understand why this was happening right now. He couldn't understand why this could happen and how. Why was it that everyone's behavior made no sense to him?... Why was this all happening, if five minutes ago everything had still been fine?...

He felt dizzy. This all just mustn't be true…

…And then there was this voice, who kept on talking all the time.

"Since your memories are now safely separated, the seal that keeps you from consciously recalling this past life is, technically, not broken. Old couldn't mix with or replace new here. This halted the decay of the fabric of time a little. Which meant you two were yet another obstacle we would have to get rid of. So I was sent. On Outset Island, I tried to lure you into your demise."

"You chose Nayru's symbol for your disguise, because you knew it'd attract my attention and lure me into that forest, right?"

"Well, how could I _not_ have known?" she stated, somewhat annoyed. "The whole fairy society is downright _drowning _in those stories: '_Oh, The Hero of Time had, like, a fairy of Nayru by his side, who was, like, so pure and wise and wonderful, she's, like, the perfect role model, …_' You know, that fairy sounds like a doormat to me, but well, it worked as bait, so why complain? Sadly, that didn't quite go as planned either. I may have been given the ability to summon monsters by my mistresses, but not to control them… stupid beast went after me the moment it got me spotted. And I couldn't use the abilities granted to me by my mistresses to defend myself, because the other fairies would have noticed… But, well, fortunately, you got there just in time, didn't you? Ha ha…"

"Which explains the bottomless armies of monsters," Toki said in a manner which sounded like crossing off an item from a list. "So, every monster we encountered was summoned by you? No wonder they just wouldn't stop coming!"

She shrugged. "Not my fault that you were too ignorant to tell the whole time. But I should thank you! Those hats of yours make great hiding places to avoid getting caught up in those nasty battles! It was like having personal bodyguards! And when you got the Sage of Forest free, I thought to myself: 'Why not just go and try get them to open a few more of those seals, while I try to kill them? Wizrova can go and collect the sages afterwards.'"

"So she's your ally."

"Well, duh, why else would she have attacked you? So, I just went through the temples with you, trying to have my monsters kill you. And if you somehow manage to survive all of them, I could still finish you of myself afterwards. You really did well boys, I have to give you that! Still…" The fairy took a pose.

"This is where the cooperation ends!"

"Zelda, now!"

"No need to tell me!"

Toki and Tetra charged for the fairy, intending to attack, but they couldn't make it in time. Eyne made a short gesture with her hand, seemingly casting a spell. A dazzlingly bright, colorless light enveloped the fairy and caused her attackers to halt mid-sprint. Mere seconds later, the shine faded and revealed that she had grown to approximately twenty times her original size—the size of a human woman.

Satisfied, she crossed her arms. "Heheh… Attacking a helpless little fairy, are you? That's really low, seriously. Don't you think the fight is more fair this way?...Huh?"

She noticed the sound of some small object snapping and realized that her braids were opening. An annoyed grunt was the consequence. "Ahhh! …So much for my ribbons. Forgot to adjust them, darn… Oh, well…" She grinned. "Unlike certain other people, I _don't _freak out over a minor annoyance like this."

"If you treasure your throat, you should shut up now!" Tetra hissed at her.

"Stay calm!" Toki quickly told her. "We have no idea what other powers she has, so we can't afford loosing our ner—"

"I- I can't believe it…"

The words that interrupted Toki attracted everyone's attention. Kaze had finally regained his ability to talk.

"It was you…"

His voice sounded weird, as if he didn't quite know what kind of emotion to put into it. "I told you we were friends and that you can count on us… But all the time it was you. The one trying to kill us… that had been you. All along…"

"Heheheheh…" Eyne just laughed when she heard that. "The look on your face is priceless, kid! I still can't believe you actually bought everything I said!"

"Eyne…"

Kaze closed his eyes and shook his head. First slowly, then faster. Finally, he drew his sword and as he opened his eyes again, the confusion and disbelief in them had been replaced by sheer rage.

"EYNE!!" he repeated.

"Ha ha ha. 'Eyne'? That's all you got? Seriously? Don't make me laugh." Amused, she brushed a streak of hair out of her face. "You didn't really think that was my real name, did you? Ahh…" she sighed "Your stupidity is annoying. I think I'll finish you up first."

With those words, she raised her arm and unleashed a strong gust, which swept towards the group like a tidal wave, but alerted, Kaze quickly took his baton and swung it into the opposite direction. "Stop!" The Wind Waker worked its magic and the gust seemed to 'bounce off' a non-existent, invisible wall before the group.

"You…"

Kaze took a few determined steps towards the fairy.

"You're right. I was stupid. I can't believe how gullible I was. I trusted you… I allowed you to hide under my hat and comforted you and sided with you when Toki started to realize what you really were. I was convinced that you were our… that you wanted…"

This moment, Kaze remembered the night several days ago… When he heard her sleep-talking in her dream. How he had really hoped for her to get her wish granted, whatever it may have been. The 'mistress' she had been bidding to in her sleep… now he knew that this hadn't been the Queen of Fairies. And to get her wish, she…

He remembered Toki's friends, the sages, Saria and Darunia… and took a glance at the miserable, trapped Ruto in her crystal, who had apparently already given up on trying to free herself. Those people hadn't done anything to her. None of them had meant her any harm. Just to get her will, she did this to those people. All this just so he could get what she wished for? Kaze finally realized what kind of person he was actually facing here… The mask was off now.

The boy refrained from finishing the sentence he had started. Instead, he raised his sword and stormed towards the fairy, screamingand completely ignoring Tetra's exclamation of, "Link, be careful!!" He had almost reached her, the distance between them was a mere meter and he was already raising his sword and trying to slash it at her when she just summoned another gust and knocked him down with it.

"Ungh!"

"Kaze!"

"Link!"

Kaze was still trying to get back on his feet when the fairy walked up to him. "Aww… you are really adorable, I have to give you that. No wonder the queen took a liking to you…" She grinned and took a pose that suggested that she was about to cast another spell. "Let's see if you're still that adorable in pieces!"

When Kaze looked up, Eyne… or at least, the fairy he had known under that name was already above him. He tried to reach his sword, but was completely aware that he would not make it in time. He would not be able to repel whatever attack she was now unleashing on him—

"Haaa!!"

'Eyne' didn't get to finish her spell, as two blades hit her arms before she could. While she was still stumbling backwards, Toki and Tetra safely landed before Kaze.

"Attacking someone who's already lying on the ground… that's the worst!" Tetra shouted. She had already gotten her cutlass in position for the next attack. "Not even us pirates would do that! You hear me?!"

"Ha. You really think she had any kind of morals, Zelda?" Toki pointed his blade at the enemy. "You heard her. She's trying to kill us. And she abused both my own and Kaze's kindness…" He narrowed his eyes. "She's no better than that Wizrova."

That was the moment when Eyne dropped her smile. She glared right back at Toki. "Don't compare me to _her_!"

"I'll compare you to whoever I want," he replied, "except to another fairy. Because you are not worth being called that name. You are… a disgrace to every other fairy I ever knew!"

"Ha! You know nothing!"

She charged for him, not weakening her glare the least bit, as the two of them engaged into combat. For every hit Toki tried to land, she tried to attack him by using wind like blades. While she was quick to block his strikes, Toki had little problem dodging most of hers, yet both of them got hit several times. Finally, she managed to disarm him. As Toki dodged her latest attack and ran to reclaim his weapon, the fairy suddenly resumed talking.

"Humans, Hylians… all of your kind are the same. You only see the shell of a being and never even bother to look behind it. That's why you are so easy to trick. But when you notice something that falls out of your norms, you are quickly alarmed, aren't you? And when you see a fairy, what do you expect him or her to be like? Innocent and pure? Childlike and friendly? Helpful and kind? Ready to ease your pain and treat you like a king, just because you are a human or Hylian and he or she is a fairy? Happy to fulfill your desires?! _Do you really think this is the way I would want to spend my life?!"_

Toki had just started to turn around again so he could continue fighting her when yet another gust swept through the room and caught all of them—him, Tetra and Kaze. They were raised about twenty meters into the air before the gust finally stopped. If Kaze hadn't quickly used the Wind Waker to redirect the remaining wind enough to allow them to softly float down, they would have crashed into the ground with likely uncomfortable results.

Just when Kaze managed to find balance on the floor as he touched it, a cold sensation in his back told him that someone was behind him… He turned around—and was grabbed by the neck.

"UNGH!"

Eyne stared into his eyes. "Already feeling uncomfortable? Well, it's only getting more uncomfortable now." And in this inappropriate moment… the innocent smile of the little fairy who had spent the past few days with them reappeared on her face."But, you know what? I'm feeling generous today. And I can't stand seeing someone as cute as you suffer for too long. So, if you want me to make it fast and painless, just tell me, hm?"

"Stop!!" Toki ran up to them. "You were fighting me just now, remember?! Let him go and come back here!"

"Why should I even bother?" The malevolent expression returned to her face. "I have no need to take care of you first. _You_ are just an embodiment of memories, kept alive by his life force. Which means if I kill him…" She tightened her grasp and got ready to strangle him.

"…I'll be rid of both of you in an instant."

Kaze tried to gasp for air, but it got progressively harder to do so. He struggled to get free, but could downright feel how every move he made drained some of his remaining air. He started to panic. Still, she was staring at him with this malevolent smile on her lips. He could see his reflection in her eyes… He couldn't get free, couldn't reach his sword. She would strangle him… He would die...

"_No!!"_

It was Tetra's voice which finally broke through his stream of rushing thoughts. The next thing he knew was that the fairy suddenly loosened her grip on his neck… He quickly took a long-needed, deep breath, before he fell to the floor...and passed out.

Tetra had slashed Eyne in the back. With an incredible speed, she had charged for her and attacked. While the fairy was backing off in surprise, Tetra put away her weapon. Shocked, she kneeled down to her friend on the floor. "Link! Link, are you alright?! Link!!"

She shook him by his shoulders, but got no answer. Tetra held her breath for a moment. Still, she kept shaking his shoulders.

The fairy reproached her. "Ungh…" She shook her head, as if to regain the focus she lost when she was attacked. "You little… brat…"

"Shut up."

Tetra stood up from the ground. Her whole body was shaking. Something was happening…

"How dare you…" Slowly, Tetra turned around to face Eyne.

"How dare you do this to him… How dare you use those dirty tricks on him… Link is a kind person… caring and… always placing others before himself." She paused a moment "He treated you as a friend. He cared for you. And this is how you repay him?! You exploited him, attacked him and hurt him! How dare you abuse his trust like this!? How dare you abusing his kindness?! You… You…"

A bright aura of golden light appeared around Tetra as she said this. In shock, the fairy backed off. "What the—"

The Triforce Symbol on Tetra's hand lit up in radiantly, rivaling that of the sun, as she screamed:

"_YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, YOU BEAST!"_

The golden glow expanded, dazzling those around her. Toki quickly shielded his eyes from the light. "W-What is happening?"

"Ungh…"

Toki turned to the side and found Kaze shaking his head and trying to get up again. He was breathing rather quickly.

"Kaze!" Toki bent down to him. "Can you stand up?"

"I-I think…" Kaze then suddenly looked up. "Tetra!"

Both of the boys quickly turned to the side to see the light receding a bit again. Tetra became visible again within the shine. But she had changed. The boys' eyes grew wide when they saw her stepping forward, clothed in a dress which looked like it was cut for battle. Jewelry and a tiara were decorating her appearance. And while her face was devoid of any emotion, her eyes shone in the very same shine which surrounded her. Something about her appearance was majestic and intimidating, despite it still being that of a thirteen-year-old girl…

"Zelda…" Toki whispered in sheer amazement, while Kaze finally got to his feet again.

"She turned into the Princess again… But…But something is wrong!" he said. "It… It looks different from when she last became the Princess! What happened?…Tetra! "

She didn't react to him. Instead, she turned towards Eyne… who shivered in fear. Tetra's mouth opened and she spoke in words, which Kaze didn't understand.

"_Nta yohn jihy io kíkoa seh tan."_

"'There will be no mercy for you,'" Toki whispered, earning him Kaze's surprise. He turned down to him. "That's what she said! She spoke Hylian!"

"T-Tetra…" Kaze stood there and watched Tetra approaching the fairy with slow steps… what had happened to her?

Meanwhile, Eyne was visibly trying hard not to shake in fear, but failing horribly. She then let out a rather fake sounding laughter. "Heh heh heh… A… A brat like you can… cannot scare me! I'm not afraid! Just… come… here… yeah…"

Without moving even a single muscle in her face, Tetra kept walking towards the fairy, until she was barely four meters away from her. She raised her right hand. The Triforce symbol was shining like a star.

"_Hín."_

The moment she spoke the word, the ground around Eyne burst into flames.

"Kyaaa!!" The fairy jumped to escape and fly up, but as soon as she was in the air, Tetra changed her focus and again targeted her.

"_Kazé."_

Finally a word that Kaze it had exactly the effect he expected: Just like how Eyne had bombarded them with gusts before, a gust had no caught her and caused the fairy to crash into the wall behind her… except that this gust was a whole lot more powerful than the ones she herself had produced. It was more of blast. "Amazing…" he gasped, and really meant it. "I never knew Tetra had this kind of power…"

"Hey." Toki got Kaze's attention. "We should try to get Ruto free, while that fairy's distracted!"

"Uhm… right!"

Kaze had a bad feeling in his stomach, but what Toki said was true… They had to free the sage at any cost. The boys ran over to the crystal, where Ruto was now sitting inside, observing everything that was happening. Toki raised his sword. "AHHGH!" With all his power he tried to break the crystal, but it didn't work and he only got startled by the feedback. "Uggh… I'm not strong enough…"

"Let's try together then!" Kaze suggested and just as the two of them were about to raise their swords and attack, they heard a voice:

"_Link…"_

"Huh?" In surprise, Kaze started looking around to locate the speaker, while Toki just took a look up to the crystal. "Ruto…?"

Ruto's eyes were closed. Apparently, she was speaking to them using telepathy.

"_Link… the Princess is in great danger."_

"W-What?" Surprised, the boys turned around. But all they got to see was how the fairy desperately tried to dodge the sheer bombardment of spells Tetra was unleashing at her.

"Ruto, what do you mean?"

"_The power she unleashed… it's…"_

"She activated the Triforce, right?" Toki suggested.

"_No." _

Surprised, the boys listened up.

"_Not only the Triforce of Wisdom… This is… the ancient power… that was sealed within… the Princesses of Hyrule…" _Apparently, Ruto had problems holding the connection through the crystal "_…the true source of the Princesses' magic… the Light Force…"_

"Light Force?"

The boys watched Tetra, as she continued to attack the enemy without showing even the weakest sign of tiring.

"_Hyrule's first king… he received this great source of… magical power from… the Picori people… used it… to stop an invasion of monsters… but… since its powers were… almost as dangerous… as the Triforce itself… he sealed it… within his daughter… she was the first Princess Zelda's grandmother…"_

Kaze's eyes grew wide. He'd remembered something. "Oshus told me that Bellum was drawn to Tetra because she was an incredible source of force."

"_Exactly… There is no other… source of pure force… that rivals that of the Princess…the first king…he sealed it in a way… that would prevent its powers from overcoming his daughter… or any of her descendants… sealed it, so its full potential would stay untouched…"_

Tetra continued to attack Eyne, who was now well aware that she was facing a dangerous opponent. She tried to strike back, but every bit of Wind Magic she used was reflected back at herself by Tetra immediately. When the fairy finally plummeted to the floor, robbed of the energy to fly any longer, the girl didn't stop. She raised her arm and continued to attack her opponent with ice magic.

In shock, Toki backed off. "She's really not showing the least bit of mercy… She'll destroy her!"

"No… But… But Tetra wouldn't…" Kaze shook his head. "Why is she doing this?! Tetra would never attack an enemy who clearly can't fight anymore… Tetra!!" he shouted out to her. "Tetra, stop this!!"

She didn't hear him.

In disbelief, the boys stared at the fighting girl as Ruto told them:

"_The light force is… pure energy… and responds to… the emotions of its wielder… a pure heart and pure intentions grant the power to create miracles… but greed, hatred or… rage… There's a legend… that the one who is subjected to the full amount of this energy… and fails to keep it in check… that person's soul will break under the pressure…"_

"_What?!"_ Kaze stared up to Ruto in shock.

"You don't mean… Tetra… Tetra will…"

"_Princess Zelda… can no longer control the magical force, now that the seal on it has lost its power… just like every other seal in this world… Also, the Triforce of Wisdom, as power of the Goddess Nayru, magnifies magical power…making it just worse… if the Princess fails to stop her own rage… she will continue to more and more succumb to the Light Force… until she can no longer house all its energy…the gods alone know what will happen to her then…"_

A loud scream caused the boys to turn around. Instead of stopping as soon as her opponent was down, Tetra continued to attack with even more brute force, screaming loudly. It finally became completely apparent that she had absolutely no control over her actions. She continued to berserk. When she charged for a stronger, attack, Eyne finally took the chance and, taking the last of her power, shrunk back to her usual size and escaped behind a pillar. She was shaking and her heart was beating rapidly as she realized what just happened.

The Light Force.

The goddamn _Light Force._

She was dead… Everyone in here was. This girl would continue to wreck the place until everything in there was either burnt to a crisp or squashed by falling boulders. There was no warm, comfortable green hat she could flee under now. And even if there was, that wasn't gonna protect her from _this._ They were all going to die. Here and now. Not taking care of the Princess first had been a crucial mistake. She gulped, "D-Darn it…"

Realizing, that her target had escaped the latest attack, Tetra shifted her attention to the pillar. She knew that her opponent was behind it. She knew it. She turned to the right and went up to the pillar. Step by step.

_She had to kill the one who was behind it. She had to erase this person, destroy it, exile it from this world. This horrible beast who had dared to hurt him. This person, who hurt his trust… nobody was allowed to hurt his trust. Nobody. His trust… His optimism… his cheerful smile and kind heart… Nobody was allowed to hurt him. He…_

"TETRA!!"

_His voice…_

"Tetra!! Calm down, please!! She's not worth it!"

Tetra apparently didn't listen. She was completely fixed on the pillar and kept on walking.

"Tetra, please!! Didn't you tell me you wanted to stay the way that you are?! I don't want you to change either! I don't want to lose the Tetra I know! So please, stop this! Stop, before it is too late, please!"

_Link's voice… so far away…_

_

* * *

_

"_Hey, you will be protecting me, right?"_

"_I will! But you have to promise, that we'll always be friends, OK? Even if you become queen one day! Because…I would really hate to never see you again, Zelda…"_

"_Of course! And if I have to make you a knight! I promise!"_

"_Heh heh… Alright, it's an oath then! Our oath! And we have to keep it forever, no matter what happens!"_

"_Alright! Forever!"_

* * *

_He had… always been there for her, when she needed him… Again… and again… and again…_

_Had never broken his oath… always trusted in her not to break hers… Link's trust… Nobody was allowed to abuse his trust… unpunished… nobody…_

"Come back to your senses, Tetra, please!!!"

"Zelda!! If you can hear me, listen to me!! You got the freedom that you always wanted now! Don't just throw it away like this!! Please!"

_The boy who always protected her… His voice… so far away…_

_...She didn't want him to protect her now. Not again. _

_--- Note_

_And here is… the obligatory Minish Cap-element!_

_Yeah, Minish Cap now joined the ranks of the games referenced in this Fanfic!_

_Ah, the Light Force… Always loved that thing. It just explained everything. Why OoT Zelda had mystical abilities even before the Triforce incident, why Tetra was kidnapped by Bellum despite the missing Triforce of Wisdom, what kind of "Great Power" they are actually referencing to in Spirit Track when talking about Zelda's body…_

_Light Force, Light Force, Light Force!!_

_I am sure that this thing is still within the Princesses of Hyrule by the time the three cases above happened!_

_It makes sense, so it MUST be Canon! O.O_

_And if the Light Force could turn Vaati into a three-phase one eyed monstrosity, it can also make Tetra go Princess Zelda Berserk Awesome No Regrets Mode._

_Note that the original version of this chapter was written long before I even knew about their Phantom Hourglass Manga adaptation. So Berserker Zelda is NOT ripped off from Zelda's Spirit from the Manga. (Even though one can't deny the similarities...^^; )_

_Meanwhile, Eyne turned out to be evil. Don't you just hate villains who keep rambling and rambling about how evil they are? *self irony*_

_And, yes, that's how OoT Link got there. Extracted memories. So basically, Link got split into two- DID HE?!?! *dramatic music*_

_Next time: Drama, Suspense and a Catfight (I MEAN IT!)!_

_Stay tuned! ;-)_


	31. The Princesses' Name

Chapter 30:

The Princesses' Name

"Hm…"

Nervous and constantly changing his pace, a self-proclaimed famous sailor walked up and down on a not-so-famous beach, watched by six bored members of a rather infamous band of pirates.

"Just where is he…? What are they doing down there for so long?"

This was about the 10th time Linebeck had said this sentence and it was, frankly, starting to annoy Senza immensely, who was only sitting here because he, just like his colleagues, had absolutely no clue what he should do now. There was no work to do on the ship and apparently, given the inhabitants didn't lie to them, no alcohol to drink on this island (how did those people survive?)

He finally just raised his arms and tried to get the sailor's attention. "Oy, oy, calm down, the kid has managed much worse stuff than this yet. You should know that."

"They've been in there for eight hours now!" Linebeck argued "He usually takes six at most, so—why are you looking at me like that?"

The pirates were looking at Linebeck in a rather dumbfounded manner and Niko finally asked,

"Say… Did you _time_ him?"

"What? Nonsense!" the former captain of a former ship defended himself."When you spend all this time bori— ehh, I mean, working hard on the ship, waiting for the kid to finally come back and tell you the next destination, you quickly get the average time span he takes memorized. And it was definitely shorter than this!"

For a moment, Linebeck wondered why those people considered it weird that he was worrying for a little kid, going into a presumably trap-filled dungeon and not returning for an absurdly long time span. It was only after a few seconds of thinking that he realized that they have been led by an underage captain about Link's age for several years now. They probably just trusted the abilities of children more than most other people do because of this.

It was Mako who finally made a suggestion regarding Link's prolonged absence. "Maybe… they found something interesting down there and want to investigate it before they leave."

"Like what?" Gonzo asked, while Niko had already jumped up and proclaimed his revelation:

"Treasure! It has to be a treasure!"

At this point, Linebeck hit his fist on his palm and announced, "Of course! That's how it has to be! The kid found a treasure so enormous that it takes hours to get it up here! That's the most logical explanation!"

"But he's never been really interested in money." Senza said.

Linebeck gave him an unimpressed look. "Do you have a better explanation?"

"Why can't we just say that that temple is quite big and so he's taking longer?"

"Because—"

It was obvious that Linebeck was still thinking about what to say when he was opening his mouth and already starting to say the 'because'. It would have most likely end in an awkward pause of about one minute in length, but, thankfully for him, it never got that far, as a voice interrupted their little argument anyway.

"Oy!! Everyone!! Look what I fou~nd!"

A girl came run across the beach, up to the men, giggling loudly as she waved with her right hand, which was holding something. The object sparkled in the sun.

"Huh? That's the kid's sister…" Gonzo noticed.

It didn't take long for Aryll to reach the pirates (plus one regular sailor). She smiled happily. "Oy! Gonzo, Nudge, Senza, Mako, Zuko, Niko and… oh… uhm… sorry? …What was your name?" Aryll fixed her big, curious eyes on the "new guy", whom she hadn't really come to know yet. Said person immediately stood up straight and tried to appear as imposing as possible.

"Linebeck,"he answered in a calm voice. "Former Captain."

"Oh! Alright!" Aryll smiled at him, but she didn't seem very impressed, just cheerful as usual. "OK… Well, then… How are you, everyone? Heehee…"

Aryll let her eyes wander enthusiastically across all those men, who looked either severely bored or rather nervous, like she was trying to spread a little cheer across them, as they were nodding, shrugging and faking short smiles, as if to indicate that they're fine. Aryll answered every single of those reactions with yet another innocent smile, as she went on to rock back and forth a little, just so she didn't stand still.

She asked, "Hey… I wanted to ask you…"

"Yes?" Gonzo looked to her, making a gesture. "You need somethin', girl?"

Aryll giggled a little. She seemed to be unsure how to ask her question, but not shy to do it regardless. "Well… you all know a lot about treasure, don't you?"

Somewhat proudly, Linebeck nodded, "Of course! Everything! Every question about treasure you could ever have will be answered here!"

Senza shrugged. "Well, and we're pirates. It's our job."

Aryll looked at them with big eyes."We~ll… how much is this worth then? Is it precious?"

"What?" Linebeck asked. "What is worth how much?"

"I mean this stone here…" With those words, Aryll revealed the object she held in her hand to them. It was a small, unpolished, blue jewel on a leather band, which broke the sunlight and sparkled in rainbow colors in it.

And the pirates gasped collectively. Gonzo's eyes grew wide. "T-That's…"

"Huh?"Aryll slightly tilted her head, as the pirates collectively stared at the stone.

Finally, Senza stood up. "Girl! Where did you find that?"

As Aryll started to explain where she got the stone, the pirates quickly decided that her description was too long for their attention spans, which were being heavily shortened by her discovery. So they had the little girl lead them the way. Hastily, they followed her across the beach. It was a weird image, six grown men, running after a little girl, a seventh following them in a slower pace and with a confused look on his face, seemingly wondering if he should really come along or just stop walking and wait for them to come back from wherever they were going. In the end, their way wasn't a long one: Aryll led them to a barely accessible cliff on the other side of island.

"Here! I found it hanging somewhere here…"

"Oy, isn't that an a little dangerous place for you to go play?" Niko asked, shivering, as he noticed a pebble slipping away under his feet and falling into the water. He gulped.

Aryll, however, just laughed, "I'm careful, really! I have been here a lot ever since Link went away. Because there are so many places you can't reach easily here, you can always find something new to explore! It's great fun!"

As she continued to examine the place in order to find the spot they searched, Senza remarked, "You know…I think I remember your brother saying something similar once some time ago…"

"Once?"Linebeck asked in great surprise. "He doesn't talk a lot on your ship, does he? When he was on mine, he was saying this kind of stuff all the time. In fact, he could _never_ seem to stop." He started miming the little boy's voice: "_'Hey, you really don't want to come along, Linebeck? Com'on, it's gonna be exciting, Linebeck! I'm sure there something that would interest you too, Linebeck!'_ He was like that every time we got anywhere near a new island. And whenever I made up an excu—I mean, told him I had work to do, that fairy would come out and start flinging her insults."

"I guess that's because you kinda got him 'in action'," Gonzo suggested. "The first time he did that hero-thing, he spent barely any of the time on our ship. He had his own little sailboat and did everything solo. He was a few days on our ship in the beginning, but he mainly spent those talking about how his sis here was hopefully alright. And scrubbing our decks."

"…Hence calling him 'swabbie'," Linebeck realized and he saw that a proud smile crossed the face of the pirate Niko when the word was mentioned. He then went on, "So, he had his own boat? What kind of boat was that?"

"It's red and white, with a head that looks a little bit like a lion and a green mast, which you can take off. It's about… uhm… two meters long! Heheh!"

To their all surprise, it was Aryll who said that.

"Wow…" Nudge blinked at her in surprise. "You sure have a good memory, little girl…"

But Aryll shook her head. "Actually, no...I just said what I saw." She raised her arm and pointed away from her. "See? It's right here. Look!"Everyone turned their heads towards the direction Aryll pointed to finally spot what she was talking about.

Hidden and secured underneath a ledge in the cliff, the boat once called, "the King of Red Lions" floated on the water, not drifting off from the island due to a short rope tied to a nearby rock. It didn't take a sharp eye to spot that there was a big bag sitting in its interiors, presumably filled with goods. Dumbfounded, the men rushed over to it and, after a few times, managed to get the bag out of it without getting themselves wet. Hastily, Gonzo untied the rope which kept it closed and revealed the insides, which everyone took a look at right away. It was nothing impressive-looking on first glance, at very least not a treasure, yet it got all of them to gasp. Even Linebeck, but he was also the first to recover his voice.

"No way…" he stated. "Is that… hourglass here…?" Reacting to this statement, Gonzo took the mentioned item out of the bag and handed it to Linebeck, who looked at it closely. "No mistake… that's the kid's!"

"As well as those," Niko stated, and he pulled a Hookshot and a violet bag with weird patterns on it out of the bag.

Senza looked closer. "Look at this! There's our money… actually, most of our stuff… even the sails are in there!"

"Oh, yes! That's where I found the pretty stone!" Aryll pointed at a rather big, edgy rock, not too far away. "It was hanging on there! Maybe the person who lost it accidentally got stuck there with its band and didn't notice when it slipped out or his or her pocket."

"Which means the thief is…" Gonzo gave everyone a blank stare, as if he didn't quite believe the sentence he was about to finish himself.

Meanwhile, Niko took off his head kerchief and looked to the sky in awe. "Wow… amazing! That's real mastery, I tell ya! She's truly the greatest of them all…"

"Would anyone please tell me, what you're talking about?" Linebeck stated, slightly annoyed. "What is the deal with that blue stone?"

Nudge started making gestures, "That blue stone belongs to our Miss! She never goes anywhere without it. She must have lost it when she passed by that rock… Meaning she was here… so she was the one who hid the boat here, which means that she was the one who took it, which means that she was the one who took _all_ of our stuff!"

"Miss Tetra stealing from us…" Gonzo said, as he started to rub his back in a confused manner. "That just… weird, you know?"

Mako turned towards him and adjusted his glasses a little] "But wouldn't that mean, that she's somewhere here on the island? We should have seen her."

"Or… she's not _on _the island…"

This was Linebeck's suggestion. With closed eyes, he seemed to ponder about something. "Of course… it makes all perfect sense!"

"What? What makes perfect sense?" Niko asked in curiosity.

Linebeck grinned. "She went into the temple! Which only further proves my point that there _has_ to be a treasure inside! Pirates _cannot_ resist treasure! Everybody knows that!"

"You're stereotyping us to hell and back, you know that, right?"Senza asked with an annoyed tone in his voice, while Niko crossed his arms.

"Also, the treasure thing was my idea!"

Mako agreed with a nod. "Yeah. If Miss Tetra really went inside the temple, she surely had another reason than this!"

"Also, I'd like to know why she didn't show herself to us, instead of taking all our stuff and running. That worries me a little bit…" Nudge sighed.

Aryll had sat down on a boulder nearby and moved her legs around playfully as she listened to them talking. Finally, she gave a suggestion herself:

"Maybe, she went in so she could help my big brother and the other Link?"

Mako quickly went on to point out a certain problem with this. "Another question, then: How did she even know of the temple's existence? Or that Link was going in? We wouldn't have known that it was there if that other kid didn't tell us!"

But Aryll just smiled. "Ahh… Tetra is smart! I'm sure, she could have figured it out herself!"

"I kinda have to agree with her," Senza stated. "But it still doesn't make much sense…"

Gonzo sighed. They were getting nowhere like this. This whole discussion was giving him a headache and it didn't seem like they were going to reach any kind of conclusion soon. What was their Miss doing right now? Was she really down in that weird temple beneath the island? Hopefully she'd return soon and clear up this mess…

…Also… how was the kid doing?

He was really taking a long time…

* * *

His heart racing... His thoughts buzzing...

Link was scared. He could say this with all honesty.

It wasn't like he didn't know this feeling at all. But usually, he just ignored it. Ignored it, ignored it, ignored it, until the problem was solved and there was no reason for this feeling to haunt him any longer.

But this time, there would have been no use ignoring it, and he knew it. Because, just ignoring what was happening right now… would cause… the result would be that…

He found that he had closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again right away. A… stupid reflex. Closing his eyes wouldn't change a thing… would maybe even just make it worse.

As he looked up, Tetra was still there, approaching that pillar. Her steps seemed slow… but that was probably just his perception. He once heard that time seems to slow down in moments of extreme excitement and found this to be true… So many moments had been like this for him yet. Like floating in a bubble outside of time for a short moment.

The moment Aryll had been kidnapped… The moment Ganondorf smacked Tetra to the floor… The moment he drove his blade into Ganondorf's skull…

…The last one might just have been the slowest of those. He could still remember the blood drops hanging in the air as the sword slid inside that person's forehead…

This moment was just the same as those others. He finally completely realized this when he saw the slow-motion like manner in which Tetra raised her arms. Her mouth started to open, but he could barely make out a sound. He noticed how his legs started to move… He couldn't just stand there. He had to act. Had to do something.

_There's a legend, that the one who is subjected to the full amount of this energy and fails to keep it in check… that person's soul will break under the pressure…_

_Break…_

_Break…_

She would break… if she broke… Her smiles and angry stares and unfriendly remarks and uplifting words and memories…

This all would be… dead.

"No…"

She would be dead. If that happened…

'Tetra' would die. Even if her body was still there and would maybe even still move, she would be dead. There was no difference.

Not to him. To the 'him' right now, the 'she' right now would be gone…

He couldn't let her be lost. He couldn't.

"Tetra! Please, hear me! STOP! Please!"

Far away, he could hear another voice shouting something, but he did not know what. It felt distant and unimportant. He felt his legs running, repeatedly hitting the floor and raising again. It was not really as if he was taking much part in it. Just like his body was doing it on its own.

But she wouldn't stop... She didn't hear him. He knew it. Yet, he continued screaming:

"TETRA!!!"

But she didn't react…

If only…

…Of course… there was one thing, she would react to… Those two words… Maybe, those two words…

"PRINCESS!"

Maybe she would turn around and scream at him, if he used those two words?

"PRINCESS ZELDA!! PLEASE, WAKE UP!"

_Please… turn around and scream at me. Please. _

But the reaction was different…

Suddenly, Tetra stopped. Her arms… sunk…

Her eyes let off the pillar, instead blankly staring into the air. There was something surprised and confused to her. As if the sound of the voice had put her into a different stage of trance.

_He… called for her?_

_Did this mean, he was coming to help her? _

_No… not again._

_She could make it on her own._

_There was no need for him to sacrifice his energy…_

_She was strong by herself._

_All by herself…_

_There was this person…_

_This person hurt him. This person abused him._

_Such a person was disgusting._

_This person didn't deserve to be._

_This person had to vanish._

_And so she raised her arms, and…_

"NO!"

_A soft touch around her body… _

…_an embrace?_

…_How nostalgic…_

_Her shoulder was wet…_

"Please… Tetra… I… I didn't protect you those other times just so _this_ can happen to you! Please, stop it… don't let this happen… Please, stop…a-alright?!"

…_Protect me…_

_Like always…?_

…_Just because of… back then…?_

…_You stop it too…_

…_Don't protect me… _

…_I changed my mind…_

…_.Please let go of me…_

…_Please…_

…_Let me… protect you… just once…_

…_let me show… that I am…_

…_that I am… not…_

_

* * *

_

"I am not that weak!!"

Tetra's thoughts rushed and buzzed with no order. She didn't know what was happening or why. She didn't know where she was, or how she got there… But she knew that this had to stop.

_I can't fight. I have to wait here._

_I can't fight. I'm a statue._

_I can't do a thing._

_Never. _

_At no time._

_No effort is going to change this._

_That's my fate._

"STOP!"

Shouting at your own thoughts… How low could you sink? But Tetra no longer cared about reason. She just wanted this endless repetition to end. This had to end. On her knees, she clutched fists out of her pressed-against-the-floor hands and shouted:

"I don't need your protection, Link! Stop it! I can fight! I am not a weak, spoiled, little girl! I can fight! I don't need a hero to come and save me! That's not the role I want you to play! I don't want a hero… I want a partner, by whose side I can fight!! I want us to help each other and be a team! To trust each other, because we know that we can always rely on each other to back us up!!..."

Tetra stopped a moment. She could still hear her words echo through the area... But she got no answer. Nobody had heard her… Pressing her eyelids together, she tried hard not to whimper. She felt that he was doing it again right now… That he was trying to play bodyguard for her once again. And once again, she wasn't able to help. Because she was relying on his help… Tetra felt helpless.

"How….How can I call myself a friend, if all I ever do is to wait for him getting me out of trouble?..." she whispered. "This is not how it is supposed to work… He's not my babysitter, darn it! I just want to… I want to…"

"…be allowed to be strong?"

This was the moment when Tetra stopped shouting. Her voice… echoed? But those were not words she had said… at least not already…

She carefully lifted her head up and looked before her.

…A mirror?

But why was the image wearing a wimple? And a dress? Why as the image so pale and calm looking? Why was the image standing straight up, when she was on her knees?

That was when Tetra realized… that she wasn't looking at her reflection. There was someone else. Another girl. A girl, with her face… her eyes.

And soon she knew… understood who this girl was…

"You are…"

Slowly, Tetra rose up from the ground to face the girl on eye level.

"You are… Princess Zelda… am I right?"

The girl nodded at her without changing her expression. A few seconds of silence passed after this, as Tetra seemed to wonder what was going on. When she finally discarded these thoughts, she slightly lowered her head and whispered:

"So… you are the girl this other guy sees in me all the time… The one he knew…"

Silence reigned.

"…That's true…right?"

There was no answer.

Slowly, Tetra was growing nervous as the girl's face stayed unchanged. She showed not the slightest bit of reaction to her words.

"Are you… are you trying to make fun of me?"Tetra finally asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Again, she was denied an answer. All she got where several seconds of absolute silence. Suddenly, Tetra felt an incredible contempt rising up within her…

"Well… I can't stand you! So, what're you saying now?!"

She paused, waiting for a reaction by the girl, but the girl just stood there silently, the only thing indicating that she was no statue being her breathing.

"Why won't you talk to me?!"

No reaction. Tetra's anger rose.

"Alright… now…do you know why I can't stand you? Because you're a coward! Yeah, that's what you are! A spoiled, little, cowardly brat!! What did you do, when Ganondorf came and tricked your father? You stood in your garden and waited, that's what you did!"

_How do I know that?_

"You should have stormed in and beat him up!—Why aren't' you saying anything?!—You should have killed him, right where he stood! You _knew _what he was going to do! You know what he really was! You should have just ended it right there! But, no, your royal etiquette was more important to you than that! Instead, you pulled a boy you never even saw before into this whole mess! Sent him to do all the work, while you lean back and wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait!! Didn't you ever wonder what this would do to him? Didn't you ever wonder what you would do to him by making him do this?!"

_I did… _

"And then you ran away! Yeah, you ran away, like the coward you are! Even though you could have helped! You could have! You were strong on your own too, damnit! "

_Why do I know?_

"And when he came back… when he had to do everything on his own, he was all alone, because there was nobody left who could have aided him… You tricked him into thinking you would be there to support him. But you weren't! You kept running and waiting! And waiting and waiting and waiting… "

_I can… see it all… All those scenes…_

"Waiting for him to do all the work, that's it! You were strong! You had trained for years for all of this! Yet you didn't do a thing!"

_What is happening…? This feeling…?_

"And then the battle came! And you were right there! Right there, next to him! But what did you do? You stood there and did nothing, pretending to be helpless! Yes, you screamed and waited! You screamed like a little, spoiled brat… Yes, that's exactly what you are! I… I…"

Tetra finally ran out of breath and stopped. He took a few small breaths… before she inhaled as much air as she could and finally shouted from the bottom of her heart:

"Princess Zelda! I HATE YOU!"

She was letting it all out. All she got:

"I hate you because you pretend to be fragile and weak, even though you are not! I know that, because I- … I hate you because you keep waiting for your troubles to get solved by someone else, instead of trying to solve them yourself! I hate you, because you are too afraid to say what's on your mind! I hate you, because you are like- …

"…I hate you, because you hide behind that boy. All the time, you hid behind him! You made him endure all of this, just because you thought you couldn't do it yourself! And then you thought you could just undo everything by giving him back the childhood you took from him! But you were wrong! People like him can't go back! You can't just rewind him and pretend nothing happened! That's not how life works, you hear me? Maybe in your little, magical glitter-world, damage is undone that easily, but that's not what reality is like! Reality is a cruel place, you hear me?! YOU HEAR ME?! So… leave me alone!! I… I…"

Tetra got out of breath again… finally, she fell onto her knees again. She needed a few more breaths, before she could finally continue, albeit quietly:

"I hate you… because it's you… they see in me… all of them…"

Taking all her strength, Tetra stood up again. She glared into the other girl's eyes.

"But I… I refuse to play this role any longer! I will not hide behind someone else! I will not pretend and run! I will show that I am strong… because I know that I am! I know who I am! That's why I want you to… I want to… I wish I could…"

She paused a moment, as if she didn't know if it was OK to say what she was about to say, but eventually, she just allowed the words to come.

"I wish I could just smack you in your oh-so-pretty face! Loud and hard!"

"Then… do it."

Surprised, Tetra looked up. The girl was looking right into her eyes.

"It is true. I am cowardly. Come. Smack me. I deserve it."

Not quite believing what she heard, Tetra hesitated a moment… then, she clutched a fist with her right hand.

"ALRIGHT!"

She swung as far as she could, closed her eyes…

"This one is for me hiding, while Link had to go out finding those darn shards of the Triforce!!"

…_I should have just refused to stay…_

A loud, ear piercing slap-sound echoed through the place.

The cheek of the pale girl was dyed in a crimson red color for a moment. Yet, she didn't move.

After a short pause, Tetra swung to strike again.

"This one is for me letting King Daphnes die, when the spell on Hyrule was broken!"

…_Link reached for his hand… Why didn't I? We might have done it together…_

A second sound. The second cheek turning red.

Still no movement.

"This one is for me being attacked by Bellum and—and—"

—_pulling Link into the whole mess as well… Just because I couldn't defend myself…_

Again, this sound.

"This one is for me being unable to help in the battles at all, all the time! Even though I was there!"

_That's the worst… I was there all along. There and watching. And screaming. And waiting. Just like—_

Again.

"This one is for everything going wrong, as soon as me being 'special' or whatever is even as much as just mentioned! If that's what being 'blessed' means, those Goddesses can keep their blessings to themselves!!"

…_If I just could use them to help. Once in a while…_

Again.

"And who's the one who gets to deal with all the problems caused this way? Oh, right, that poor little kid, who I just so happened to bump in one day! All of the sudden, the universe just decided that he had to be my royal bodyguard!"

…_Not that I ever actually did anything against it…_

Again.

"And this one is for— this is… that's…." Tetra wanted to strike the girl's face, now turned completely red and blue, one more time…. But her fist shook. She wavered. Finally, she let her arm sink:

"That's… not fair…"

Tetra's head sunk:

"I don't want to be… the reason for…him… having to do this kind of stuff… over and over and over again… Until one day, when he might—No… I want to help myself… I want us to help each other... I can't be as… one-sided as this…

"Why can't I… just be as strong as I really am…?"

"You can."

Tetra looked up. The Princess was carefully approaching her, putting her hand to Tetra's shoulder… It felt weird… not like actually being touched…

"Listen to me…"

The girl's voice sounded soft. The exact opposite of Tetra's…

"The name 'Zelda'… marks you as the Princess of Hyrule. It's a name that binds you to sacrifice everything for the people. Every need and desire… Your true self… You have to be protected, in order to protect…

"…Or so I thought…"

She paused.

"But I turned out to be in error. Thinking I was fated to hide behind the mask of the pure Princess of Hyrule, I fooled everyone into thinking that I was happy and content… I almost dropped this mask in front of one person… but in the end, I took it on again. I didn't dare to. I was convinced that this was my purpose… as 'Zelda'. But then, I put down the name…"

For the first time, she blinked for a short moment, before continuing:

"And for those seven years… behind a literal mask… I let the mask I spent my childhood behind down. Using a name that was not mine and a disguise that was not me, I was… more 'me' than ever before. The world around me was decaying and dying… but, I have to say in all honesty… and I feel ashamed for those selfish feelings… I was happy. Yet…"

She looked away.

"…in the end, I was too afraid to actually change the way things went. I just couldn't believe this person I had become… this person I enjoyed being… was the true 'me'. So I discarded this person, the moment 'Zelda' was needed again. I discarded… my desires again. You are right. I wasn't there for Link when he would have needed my aid the most. I thought… I couldn't help him. '_You are the Princess, what can you do?" _I thought. _"The strong Sheik was a mask. This person died, is dead, and won't come to help Link. This person will never come again. All you can do now is trust in Link. Yes, trust in the hero and everything will end as it is supposed to be…' _And this is how I left him alone… by trusting in him. And not in myself."

Discouraged, Tetra let her eyes turn to the ground again. "So… that's what the name 'Zelda' caused you to do…? "

Her birth name…

Tetra realized… she and Link had promised each other to find the new land. But what would she be once they were there? She would be the 'Princess' again… She would be 'Zelda'…

If it was right for royals to act this way… did this mean, it was inevitable? Would she have to throw anything away for the sake of the kingdom?

Would 'Tetra'… 'die' in favor of the girl standing before her? Just like this girl let her true self 'die' that day…? Would she become a puppet of her own name—

"You won't."

In surprise, Tetra looked up.

"H-How did you—"

The Princess smiled slightly. "I can hear your thoughts, because this very place is a thought. I am a thought. And so are you. Didn't you notice?"

Tetra blinked a few times, as she tried to comprehend this: "…So… you heard everything?"

She nodded. "Every word. I also know, that you can see my memories right now… this is because they are me. I am embodying them. And you are embodying yours. I can see them as well. We can meet here because I am slipping out of your heart's core into your consciousness… "

Tetra listened silently, but she felt a hint of panic rising when she heard those words.

The Princess continued, "It is progressing with great speed. Before long, you won't be able to tell us apart any longer… neither will I. There will be no difference… My 'memory' will overcome your 'memory' and suppress it."

"Then…will I… disappear?"

Tetra noticed her voice trembling in a way she heard it never before. It barely even sounded like her own voice this way.

"Don't worry." The Princess smiled. "The memories I embody have no reason to be within the 'me' of the present. They are meant to sleep. I won't allow myself to retake the place within our conscious mind… this is not my right."

"So you are really me…If this is true…then…" Tetra looked down. "…Then I will end up being like you, right? As soon as we find land… As soon as I wear the crown…"

She clenched her fists as a shiver went down her spine. Tetra closed her eyes. "I won't be 'me' anymore, right? I'll change into someone else…"

"Maybe you will," Princess Zelda said, as her voice stayed calm. She put a hand to Tetra's shoulders… Tetra felt the touch, but the sensation was weird… more like an emotion…

"But..." the Princess continued, "…what form this change takes is up for you to decide. Listen… you are not like me."

Tetra slowly looked up, as the Princess spoke.

"I always thought the self I dreamt of being was a childish wish. A kind of person I could never be. But… now I saw those new memories. Your memories." She smiled softly. "You… the pirate 'Tetra' proved me wrong. You showed me that it is possible for 'me' to change. …You can change what has been constant for more than thousand years. Maybe 'Tetra' could be the person can finally move the role of the 'Princess Zelda' forever…"

She looked Tetra in the eyes.

"…because your will is strong. You won't allow the name to bind you. And you do have a different name as well. A name you won't just throw away like I did. And you are… much stronger and braver than I ever was. Yes… I am sure you can fulfill that dream. That you can change 'us'. With the strength of the 'you' right now."

Tetra looked to the ground. "I can change it…"

Zelda kept smiling. "It is true that it is Link's purpose to protect the Princess… But this doesn't mean that the Princess can't give her own power to protect herself, as well as him too! You have proven it! You fought alongside him, aided him… did what I never dared to do. If you want… you may even be able to reject the name. Just this once. You can decide what kind of person you want to be once you changed. You just must not allow the name 'Zelda' to bind you to nothing else than the role of the Princess… like I did."

The Princess closed her eyes for a moment and laughed. Now, she opened them again. Tetra could see her own face reflecting in the Princess' eyes…and she knew those were her eyes. Her own.

And she understood. This image was a past… one she had to accept existing…. But also one she was allowed to leave behind while moving forward. Tetra finally completely raised her head again.

And she smiled.

"…Thank you…"

"Hee hee…"

Princess Zelda took Tetra's hands… there was no sensation of touch. Just the awareness that there were memories. Cheerful and painful memories…

…What was this? This feeling of… being on both sides of the image…? This… dizziness…

The scenery blurred… along with her mind…

"_What is… happening?…I feel like…melting…I…I'm so tired…"_

"_I have to apologize…this is because of me…"_

"…_Will I disappear after all?…"_

"_You will awaken again… I promise…"_

"_Princess…."_

"_Please…Would you allow me to speak to Link? Just one last time…?"_

_

* * *

_

"Uhh…."

"Tetra!!"

Still within his arms, the enigmatic light that had engulfed Tetra suddenly vanished. The dress she was wearing melted away into pure light, before it disappeared into nothingness. What stayed was Tetra in her usual garb… and Link felt how every little bit of tension in her body suddenly disappeared. Hadn't he been holding her, she would have collapsed this moment. Tetra closed her eyes and fainted.

Holding the unconscious girl, Link's eyes widened in shock. He shook her. "Tetra! Tetra, wake up, please!"

"Hee hee…"

Kaze listened up. Eyne's voice…

The fairy came out from behind her pillar again and sighed a moment in sheer relief before her malevolent grin returned. "So… she couldn't take it, hm? Well, I should have guessed that…"

She started to approach Kaze and Tetra, as Toki jumped in-between, his sword ready to slash anything in reach. "Just dare to attack them now, you dirty coward, and it's the last thing you'll ever do, I promise!"

"Ahh, he has a sword, I am so scared! Because it's not like I, you know, could fly or something! Hahaha!" As she said that, she already rushed past Toki, who tried to attack her but failed. She was too small…

Kaze was still clutching Tetra when the fairy suddenly hovered above them. She grinned as Kaze already reached for his sword and she proclaimed, "You know, why not just be a nice boy and hold still while I drain away you and your little girlfriend's life-force? I'll make it painless then~!"

"SHUT UP!" he shouted at her, squeezing his eyelids together tightly.

"_Yes, shut up. Stupid girl."_

The fairy looked up in shock when a new voice suddenly echoed through the room, and the Links did the same. The difference was that she obviously knew whose voice it was. And she shivered fearfully at the revelation.

"M-Mistress…?"

A second voice echoed through the room:

"_Stop fooling around, girl! It is obvious that you're on your last line. You wouldn't even have enough power to attack him right now. Get out of their reach, now!"_

"B-But I can still…"

"_One hit of the boy's blade and you're history and you know it. It's your own fault. If you hadn't wasted so much time blabbing out everything that came to your mind, you could have done it! But well, what is to be expected of a tiny, stupid fairy? We will talk about penalty later."_

"N-No way…" Toki heard the conversation and backed off in shock. "This… they… can't be…"

"Toki…?"

Kaze, sitting on the floor, still holding Tetra, looked up to his friend with asking eyes. "Is something wrong?"

Toki just shook his head in disbelieve, his face full of tension. "Oh no…"

Eyne, meanwhile, ascended higher into the air and bowed her head: "I am sorry, mistresses…"

"_You better should be!! Hee~ Heheheheh…"_

A loud, high pitched laughter echoed through the room this moment, causing Kaze to jerk, surprised. A red flash and a blue flash suddenly engulfed the area, as two faded figures appeared in midair.

"Hottest flames of rage!! Hahahahaha!"

"Freezing cold of contempt!! Hohohoho!"

As the two malevolent laughs echoed through the room, a third flash illuminated it and finally, the figures revealed their true appearances:

Two old crones sat on floating broomsticks in midair and cackled so loud, one might have expected them to get a heart attack and die any moment. They were _that_ old.

"Hahahaha… well, boy…"

The first witch finally stopped laughing and focused on the children. The second quickly followed.

"…did you miss us?"

As the eyes of the two old women wandered over the boys, Kaze felt a freezing cold shiver going down his spine. He had never before seen these women and had no idea who they were, but he instinctively knew that those were not people to be underestimated, for some reason.

And Toki apparently knew why. He gasped.

"…Twinrova…"

Disbelieving his own eyes, the boy shook his head a few times, before he went on to stare at the two figures in the air. The tension in his body grew and he held tightly to his sword, as he affirmed himself that the two women he saw were indeed the ones he thought them to be. His mind seemingly had problems to confirm this fact.

"T-That can't be!" he shouted, although with a weird tone in his voice, which suggested that he thought this to be a joke of some kind. "You are dead! I mean… I killed you! I most positively and finally destroyed you so utterly, there was _no_ chance you could have survived in any possible way in this universe!" he reaffirmed himself. "In fact, I distinctly remember seeing your _souls _ascending! While you were arguing about your age!" He shook his head once again and repeated, "This makes no sense. _You. Are. Supposed to be. Dead!!_"

"Oh, please!" Koume, witch of fire, made a unimpressed gesture. "Did you actually think you would get rid of _us_ that easily? Also, why should _our_ souls 'ascend'? To where? A peaceful rest?" She chuckled. "That's just hilarious!"

"…" Toki couldn't argue with that one. Somebody like them would never be accepted by the deities to life a pleasant afterlife. Still… something about this was wrong.

Kotake joined in on her twin's laughing. "Heheheh… yes. You said it sister, just hilarious! I mean, which pair of sisters would fight over their ages while _dying_?"

"Exactly! Of course, it is very obvious that I am the younger and prettier one!"

"_I beg your pardon?"_

"What the…" Kaze was rubbing his eyes. "Ehh… Just what are _those two_ supposed to be?!"

"Twinrova…" Toki whispered, carefully walking over to the other Link. "They were mightiest witches among the Gerudo in my age… Also, Navi told me they were Ganondorf's surrogate mothers."

The last three words almost caused Kaze to jump. "Ganondorf's _mothers?!"_

"Listen to me!" Toki quickly turned towards Kaze and looked at him in a serious way, speaking louder than before. "They might look old and frail, but they are incredibly dangerous!! We have to stay careful!"

"Old and frail?! Impolite little twerp!!" Kotake was outraged. "Oh, if I just could turn you into ice cube and smash you into a billion tiny pieces for this!!!"

"Well, why don't you just come down and try if you want it so badly?" Toki asked mockingly, as he swung his sword and prepared an attack. "Are you too scared I might beat you again, even in this form, you old hags?"

"Hags?!" Kotake again raged with anger. "How dare you, you impudent little brat?!"

"Oh, believe me, we would love _nothing _more than to just come down and beat you to the inch of your pitiful little lives to take _terrible_ revenge for what you did to our master and son…"

Kotake faked tears: "Boohoo…. How could you!? He was always such a wonderful child!!"

Rambling, rambling, rambling… couldn't those witches and their servants ever do anything else? Toki had enough of this. Better take the chance now, while they are still distracted.

"But, unfortunately…"

As Koume resumed talking, Toki charged for them without making a sound with his voice, so there was still a chance they wouldn't notice him in their speech. He jumped as high as he could and slashed the sword for...

…nothing. He touched nothing. Not only his blade, but also he himself went right through Koume while she continued talking:

"…we are not really here in the moment. Those are projections we created. Our real bodies are, thanks to those charming sages of yours, sealed in a very godforsaken place somewhere in the middle of nowhere!"

With a loud sound, Toki landed on the floor again and just barely managed to find his balance, before falling over. He turned back around at the witches right away, shooting them an angry glance...

Kotake was the one who continued the speech. "In fact, we wouldn't even be able to talk to you right now, if we hadn't had a little help weakening the seal that was supposed to keep us in eternal slumber… Oh, yes, thank you again, girl."

Eyne's eyes lit up in joy and a certain pride when she heard those words. She bowed a little. "I just did what I thought was the best to do."

"You…" Toki clutched a fist. "You are—" But when he wanted to scream at her, he was beat to it by Kaze, whose loud voice completely drowned out Toki's.

"Eyne!!" he exclaimed with closed eyes. " Or whatever your name may be! You… You…I swear you, you'll pay!! For ev—"

A sharp splitting pain. Like a sudden flash inside his mind. Out of nowhere and for no apparent reason. Kaze had to stop talking this moment; it was everything but his choice to stop midsentence. He abruptly lowered his head, as his pupils shrank and his breath became fast and lost its rhythm. In pain, he even, despite struggling not to, let go of Tetra, who was still in his arms. He had still been sitting on the floor, so her body only fell barely two inches, but still far enough to make a noticeable sound on the wet floor.

Link put his hands to his head and gasped, "Uhh… Uhh…ARGH!…"

"Kaze!" Toki put his sword back into its scabbard and rushed over to the other boy. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Saying this, Toki put his hands to Kaze's shoulders to support him, so he wouldn't completely fall over. The moment his fingers touched Kaze, something weird happened. Momentarily, the pain faded, but only to return a split second later. And fade again. And return. It was as if it was flickering. Kaze struggled to use the short moments of relieve he was given to regain control over everything again, most of all his breathing, which had gotten completely out of hand. He heard the other boy's voice asking something, but he couldn't waste his thoughts on trying to comprehend it… he needed all his energy to suppress the pain and force it back to from wherever it came all of the sudden.

But… seemingly in exchange for the short moments of clearness, the moments of agony were even worse than before now.

Of course, Toki knew nothing of what was happening inside Kaze's consciousness this moment. He just kept trying to somehow help him snap out of it, not knowing that their contact had caused a change.

"Ah!"Finally with a deep breath, Kaze managed to regain his control again… the pain finally disappeared. He slowly let his hands sink down. Put them to the floor. Breathed regularly, but deeply. He opened his eyes, staring blankly in the air out exhaustion. "Huh… huh…"

"Kaze!" Toki looked at him. "What happened?! Are you alright?"

'_What happened'_

Yeah, that was the right question now… No… Actually, the better question would be: What was happening to him? What was going on with him? As Kaze still tried to regain his orientation, a high pitched laughter attracted the boys' attention. Of course, Eyne, the fairy, was its source. She downright cackled. Finally, two words mixed into her laughs:

"One day." she giggled.

"…What?" Toki looked up to her, as she grinned malevolently.

"Well, you like fairytales, don't you, hm?" she asked with a mocking tone in her voice. "I have one for you: One day, there was a little boy, who thought he could play knight just by swinging around a sword. He didn't know when to stop, cut himself and died a slow and painful death from the infection. He would have been better off if he had accidently stabbed himself. The end."

"You are disgusting!" Toki shouted, but this only caused Eyne to laugh louder.

"Uhh…" Kaze shook his head, trying to get the blur out of his view. Finally, he turned towards Toki.

"Toki…"

"Huh?" Toki noticed him, despite him only whispering.

"How is… Tetra…?" Kaze asked.

Surprised by this question, Toki took a quick look at the floor. "Still unconscious… but the fall didn't hurt her, if you mean that…" he stated, before turning back to Kaze. "But what about you?!"

"I… I…" Kaze didn't quite know what to answer. He knew for certain, that he was _not_ alright… But he couldn't just say that…

Meanwhile, Eyne continued laughing, as Kotake's voice suddenly echoed through the area. "That's enough, girl! We got the sage!"

A short glance towards the altar showed Toki that the crystal containing Ruto had vanished. They must have transported her out while they were distracted. Toki silently cursed at himself for letting his eyes of the crystal… he had promised to get her out… but now…

Saria, Naboru, Impa, Ruto, Darunia, Rauru… All of them…

"Retreat now!" Kotake shouted at the fairy.

"And… that boys?" she asked coldly with her arms crossed.

"If we don't act now, they might cause trouble later on…" Koume stated, somewhat annoyed. "We have no other way to prevent this now and… well, there are still different ways to acquire it. So, you have permission."

With the end of this sentence, Koume and Kotake disappeared by fading out of the air. A satisfied smirk went across the fairy's face.

"Very well."

She turned around, towards the boys. "Well, you heard the mistresses, so…"

Before the boys even had the chance to react to her obviously magical gestures, she had already formed a kind of ball out of wind…

"It was nice to know you!"

… and thrown it against the largest pillar in the room, which happened to be in the very middle. It cracked and finally collapsed. Immediately, a loud, thunder-like noise sounded through the area, as the ground started to shake rapidly.

"Woah!!"

The boys barely could keep their balance, as Eyne laughed loudly. "Hahaha!!" She ascended a little higher in the air, unaffected by the shaking of the ground, walls, and ceiling alike:

"That pillar was carrying the whole weight of the temple! Without it, I give you another… hm… five minutes to live before you a crushed by the ceiling! Too bad you don't have a some kind of escape rope or something, what? Of course…" a weird, uninterpretable look appeared in her eyes, "…you could also pray to the goddess of windsto get you out of this mess… Not that it would help!"

After those words, she winked at them. "Anyway, I gotta go now! Bye, bye!" She snapped and vanished into thin air, leaving behind the Links in the trembling room, which would collapse any second.

"Darn it…" As the shaking became more intense, Toki started looking around nervously. "Five minutes… we gotta get out of here! Quickly, this way!!"

Toki ran off, but mere moments later he heard a loud gasp and the sound of something dropping to the ground. When he turned around, he saw Kaze lying on the floor, downright buried under the still unconscious Tetra (he had apparently tried to carry her piggyback). Still exhausted, he tried to get up again. "S-She won't… wake up…"

"Wait a sec!!" Toki rushed over to him and helped him raising Tetra from the ground. "Together, we can carry her," he stated and Kaze weakly nodded.

Together, they left the room and progressed through the corridor they came from, but every time Toki tried to raise the speed, Kaze almost tripped and thus, they could barely run. Kaze was panicking. "We… won't make it—!"

"Darn…" Toki's thoughts were on the person who did this… that fairy. Because of her, Ruto was gone, Zelda had lost her consciousness and the temple, one of the last relics of the old Hyrule was collapsing. Not to mention whatever she did to Kaze just now… And then, she even had the nerves to taunt the—

"Wait a sec…" a revelation hit Toki all of the sudden. "…Pray to the goddess of winds… _Of course_!"

"Huh…?"

In surprise, Kaze turned towards Toki, who told him, "Take my hand, quickly!!" Toki took out an object from his bag and took both Kaze's and Tetra's hands. He focused on the object—the crystal shell.

"_Return."_

He had barely finished the words when a green vortex of energy burst out of the crystal shell and engulfed them, them away from the ground. When they felt it again under their feet, the green shine disappeared. They were back in the main hall…

"Alright… now just change the water level once here…" Toki ran to the wall with the stone tablet on it, got out his Ocarina and played the two notes as fast as he could. Momentarily, the water level rose. He hastily waved at Kaze. "_Come_!! We'll jump in and swim out!!"

"But... But…" This was the moment when Kaze, who was once again carrying Tetra alone on his back, collapsed again under her weight. On the floor, he raised his head. "If we take her in there… She… She'll drown… Even if we manage to hold on to her while swimming… Even if we don't lose her in there… She won't be holding her breath… she'll… she'll…"

Toki was shocked to realize that Kaze was right. It was impossible that this would work. Their only chance was to leave behind—no, they couldn't! They mustn't! What should they do…?

Kaze was getting up again, his legs shivering, yet he tried to keep carrying Tetra. "Tetra…" he whispered. "Please wake up, Tetra… Please… I… I can't leave you behind… but if I don't do anything now… we won't… I won't come… I—" He stopped a second, as a frightening thought apparently crossed his mind. "… Aryll…" he whispered, before he suddenly put more energy into his voice and shouted, "Please, wake up, Tetra!! Please!!"

But she didn't move.

The whole temple shook again and huge boulders crashed to the floor.

"HUH!" Kaze slipped on the red floor and fell again. He immediately tried to get up again, but failed. "It… doesn't… I can't…"

Kaze felt and looked helpless. There he was, absolutely incapable of doing anything. And it didn't seem like Toki had an idea either… until something came to his mind. A shiver went down his whole body at the thought. Yet, he eventually decided to give it a shot.

"Argh... alright…" He looked down to Kaze. "Quick! Hold on to my back with her!"

"You can't carry us both! Especially not… underwater!" Kaze argued.

"Yeah… maybe not me…"Toki said. He reached into his bag.

"Toki…?" Kaze asked, without formulating a question.

"…_Come on_!" Toki exclaimed. "Just do what I said!!"

Without asking any further questions, Kaze grabbed Toki's tunic and clung to it with all his remaining strength and closed his eyes… The time was running out. He just hoped that Toki knew what he was doing. Toki was carrying both him and Tetra, obviously having trouble with all the weight on his back, yet he prepared to… jump off the edge.

When Kaze realized this, panic got a hold of him again. "_We'll drown!"_

"Hold your breath!!", Toki commanded, as he started to sprint towards the edge. He was holding something close to his face. Kaze, eyes closed and breath held, seriously wondered if his friend had lost his marbles when he felt how they rushed towards the water.

Toki whispered, apparently to himself, "Actually… I promised I'd let you rest in peace… But I have no choice. Please… Lend me your power one last time… MIKAU!"

Suddenly Kaze realized what must be going on. He heard a scream and felt how what he clung to changed. He opened his eyes and wanted to affirm his suspicions… But that moment they plunged into the water.

And he had forgotten to keep holding his breath.

"Hm hm hmm hm~…"

Aryll was humming a melody as she made knot after knot with the red, green and blue strings in her hands and watched the cord forming.

She heard a voice from behind. "Hey, that looks nice."

"Huh?"Aryll looked up and turned around… it was Niko. She smiled cheerfully at him. "Thank you! Hee hee!"

"What are you making it for?"

She kept working on the cord. "For the pretty stone!"

"Our Miss'?"

Aryll nodded. "That old leather band on it looks so used and bland! I thought she might want a new one for it! And making is fun!" She smiled blissfully. "Maybe I should make one for my Big Brother too?Maybe he can use one for something as well!"

"Ahh, I'm sure he doesn't need to have a use for it," Niko said. "He'll be happy because it came from you alone."

She turned towards Niko. "You think so?" And Niko nodded.

Aryll thought about this a moment… then, she resumed smiling. "OK! I'll give my best then!" She giggled at the thought of her big brother's smiling face when she would give him the present, when suddenly, the strings slipped out of her hands.

"Huh!"

The ground beneath her chair was shaking. Niko was shrieking in fear, as Aryll jumped from the chair and tried to pick up her work again, but a second shake got a hold of her and threw her to the floor. "Ah!"

When the shake stopped, Aryll quickly stood up again. "W-What was that?"

Niko had just barely kept his balance himself. "A-An earthquake?!"

The two of them looked at each other for a second… before they stormed out of the house, to find that the whole village was already gathering at the beach. While they were still running, Aryll heard Linebeck's voice saying, "That's coming from the temple! It can't be a coincidence! Something is wrong down there… The kid is in trouble!"

Aryll shook when she heard this. _In trouble. _ Link… Had something happened to him? But… that could mean, that he was… he could be…

Frightened, she ran down to the beach and started screaming:

"BIG BROTHER!!"

Her voice could not drown out the loud sound of the third time the earth beneath their feet shook violently.

Behind Aryll, the neighbors shrieked in fear for their lives and houses. She, however, kept standing there, looking at the water, as the rumble continued several minutes. After maybe five minutes, finally everything came to a rest again….

"For goodness' sake!" Grandma had rushed to the beach as well, where she was now shaking in fear. "Did that come from the…"

"The temple… yes…"Linebeck stated, somewhat expressionless. "It has to… there is no other explanation."

"But what about the children?!"Grandma shouted. "The children were down there!! There… Link…Link was… down… there…"

The pirates seemed just as shocked as her. Gonzo was the only one who even managed to open his mouth:

"Miss… Tetra…?"

"If she was actually in there too…"Nudge started, but he didn't finish the sentence.

For a few moments, silence reigned again before Gonzo said something:

"We promised ….She was… our… responsibility… We promised her moth—Miss Luca… We promised Miss Luca, Miss Tetra would not…"

"LINK!!"

It was Aryll who had screamed and thus taken all the attention. She was standing right at the water and shouting from the top of her lungs.

"BIG BROTHER!! LINK! LI~NK!!"

She got no answer. Not even one of the gulls shouted. Speechless, the little girl stared out to the open sea.

"B-but…he promised…"

"Aryll…" Her Grandmother was approaching her from behind. "Deary…"

"He… he promised he'd come back…" Aryll said, before she turned around. "Grandma! Grandma, he's coming back, right?"

"….Aryll…"

"He will come back any minute, right? Right?!"

"…"

"Hey, everyone, look!!"

It had been Sue Belle who broke the dead silence, which Aryll's question had caused. When everybody was still turning around, Sue Belle stated, "The bubbles! Look, there are bubbles coming up!!"

She was right. And the bubbles' number was increasing every moment. Was something… coming up?

Aryll stood up again, hoping… she even folded her hands. "P-Please…"

And everybody hoped with her. The bubbles got more and more and more…

A loud splash sound finally ended the tension which was driving everyone mad. Something rapidly emerged from the water, splashing around so much water in the process, that Aryll momentarily had to shield her face from it. In the first moment, it looked like a dolphin jumping… But ,looking at it closer, it was something completely different.

Grandma backed off in surprise. "What… is this…?"

"...I read about this…" Mako stated, gulping. "But those are supposed to be extinct!"

Linebeck recognized the being as well. "A Zora…" He shook his head. "A real and actual Zora…I've only seen scales of those up till now… Am I seeing things?!"

The water-dwelling being elegantly ended his jump by landing on the soft sand of the island. A sigh of utter relief went past his lips, when he found solid ground under his feet. Now, it became apparent, that the Zora was carrying something… or rather... someone in his arms.

And it took nobody longer than two seconds to recognize the people he was holding.

"LINK!!"

Aryll dashed to the Zora, who was just putting down her brother and a blonde girl, whom Aryll recognized to be her brother's friend Tetra, down to the ground. They were both unconscious. Aryll was being followed closely by Tetra's crew, whose reaction was quite similar to that of the little girl, who kneeled down in front of her brother and exclaimed, ¶"Link! Link, are you OK?!"

"Uhm…

The boy slightly opened his eyes, just enough to get a glance of who had been calling his name. A weak smile appeared on his face. "A…ry…" He closed his eyes again, but his breath and heartbeat stayed constant.

Aryll was shocked the first moment… but then, she realized that he was alive at least and would probably get better soon… he was always getting better soon… She sighed.

Grandma now too approached them… her stunned eyes rested on the Zora. "You…" She bowed a little. "Stranger… whoever you may be… we are deeply in your debt. You saved the children—"

"Forget that now…"

"Huh?"

There was something… familiar in the voice of this 'stranger'. Nobody could quite pinpoint what it was, though… But something about his voice was odd.

The Zora finally put his hand to his face…

...and Toki removed the mask, returning to his childlike appearance. He smiled.

"Above all else, we have to take care of the two now!"

_---Note_

_One of my favorite chapters. I think it's not hard to guess why. XD_

_I always found Princess Zelda to be an interesting character. On the one hand, she embodies the stereotype of the classical Princess… on the other hand…_

…_Sheik and Tetra. And they were recently joined by A FREAKIN' ARMOR._

_In Ocarina of Time, a Gossip stone stated that Princess Zelda is a tomboy, which should obviously explain how she managed to fit into the rather masculine "Sheik"-role later on that well. I think every Princess Zelda is a little bit like that somewhere inside… Tetra is self-explanatory, aside from being a Textbook Tsundere, Spirit Tracks Zelda has her violent fits and sudden outbursts into a nature determined by fighting-spirit, Minish Cap Zelda cares jack about her safety concerns as long as she can have fun and A Link to The Past Zelda apparently had built an escape-way out of the castle for herself to use only. Somehow, Twilight Princess Zelda seems to stick out as the only one who is lady-like to the core… then again, she carries a sword and was given a Sheik-transformation for Brawl. So Yeah. _

_Having the two of them interacting was fun, because I could draw parallels and differences. I like doing that. _

_Oh, and, yes, I just HAD to make Tetra slap OoT Zelda. Repeatedly. ^^_

_Yes, Twinrova are the Villains. I am oh-so creative. -.-; _

_But I really didn't want to make up a Villain (mostly because I suck at making up purely evil motivations… And writing villains in general), so I went with them. Also, there's another reason why I choose them:_

_They died in OoT, yet show up unharmed in the Oracle games. One might argue that this is because the Oracle games are probably set in the Child-Timeline, but I think there are several hints that the Oracle games, in fact, are set in both timelines, playing parallel to each other, raising the question how… Ah, this is gonna get mentioned latter on anyway. ^^;_

_Zora-Mask. _

_Because Mikau's death was epically sad._


	32. A Message from The Past

Chapter 31

A Message from the Past

* * *

"_Hey! Are you alright?" _

"_Uhm… Wow… what's with that get-up?" _

"_Eh…" _

"_Well, whatever… So, where am I?" _

"_Uhm…Outset Island… Can I help you somehow? You fell from really high up, so…" _

"_Outset, huh…? Oh yeah, now I remember…" _

"_Ehm…You are sure you weren't hur—" _

"_Shut up, I'm trying to think." _

"_But… won't you even tell me your name? _

_

* * *

_

"_I am Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. What is your name?" _

"_Uhm… I'm Link…"_

"_Link…? Strange… it sounds somehow… familiar." _

"_..Yeah, actually… Did we… meet before?"_

"…_I don't think so…"_

_

* * *

_

"_Link? You're being serious, kid?...Well, seeing the way you dress, a weird name's only fitting, I guess."_

"…_Your name isn't exactly normal either, you know… HUH! Let me go!"_

"_Watch your mouth, alright? As long as you're on my ship, my word is law. Got it?"_

"_O-oOkay..."_

"_Ah… whatever. You're not gonna last half a day anyway."_

"_Hmpf!…I'll show you…"_

"_Huh? What was that?"_

"_Eh—nothing."_

_

* * *

_

"_Can you see him? The one with the evil eyes?"_

"…_Ah! Shoot!"_

"_Why are you ducking?"_

"_I think he saw me!"_

"_Don't worry. He yet doesn't know what I am planning…"_

_

* * *

_

"_So, this is the one for whom you were searching, Midna?…Huh?…You were imprisoned?...I'm sorry…"_

_Who is this woman…?_

"_Poor thing, he has no idea where this is, or what's happened."_

_Oh, please. Don't fake compassion… You…_

"_So, don't you think you should explain to him what you've managed to do? You owe him that much…"_

_Yeah… just what is going on here…?_

_

* * *

_

"_What is going on here? Who are you?"_

"_There is no need to draw your blade. I am not your enemy. I've been waiting for you, Hero of Time."_

"_You were waiting…for me…?"_

"_When evil rules all, an awakening voice from the sacred realm will call those destined to be Sages, who dwell in the temples. Together with the Hero of Time, they will bind the evil and return the light of peace to the world. This is the Legend of the Temples, passed down by my people. I am Sheik, survivor of the Sheikah."_

"_Sheik…"_

_A Sheikah? But where does this feeling of familiarity come from?_

_

* * *

_

"_Hm…"_

"…_Why are you looking at me like that…? I'm swabbing the floor, like you told me to…"_

"…_Just like on the…"_

"_Like on the what?"_

"…_Those clothes… where did you get those…?"_

"_Grandma made them for me…"_

"_Your Grandmother?... Oh, yeah, now I remember. That Island with all the traditions regarding the Hero of Time was Outset… Of course, that makes sense. And I already thought…"_

"_Thought what?"_

"…_None of your business!"_

_

* * *

_

"_One sage is waiting for the time of awakening in the forest temple. The sage is a girl I am sure you know…Because of the evil power in the temple, she cannot hear the awakening call…"_

"_Girl in the forest… Saria? Is she in danger?"_

"_I fear so. Unfortunately, equipped as you are right now, you cannot even enter the temple… But if you believe what I am saying, you should head to Kakariko village."_

"_But I have no time, if Saria's in trouble!… she might… she—"_

"_Do you understand me, Link?"_

"…_How do you know my name?"_

"…"

"_Who are you…?"_

"…"

"_I want to know why you know my name!"_

_

* * *

_

"_The kingdom succumbed to twilight, but I remain its Princess… I am Zelda."_

…_This face… why does it look familiar…?_

_I wish I could ask her…_

_

* * *

_

"_Huh! …That sword…"_

"_Hm? Oh, that's…"_

"_Where did you get that?"_

"_Uhm…"_

_Can I tell her..? She helped me on Windfall, after all… And getting Aryll out of the cage… Maybe she's nicer than she claims?_

"_Are you… Is it even possible…"_

"_Oh? Te—uhm, I mean…Miss Tetra…Do you know something about that sword?"_

"…_Ah. How could it be?..."_

"_Uhm… How could what be? What are you talking about?"_

"_Ah. Never mind about that."_

"_But—"_

"_For now, we'll just take these girls."_

_Does she know something about that sword? ... Who is she?_

_

* * *

_

_Yeah, who is she really? And what does that have to do with me?_

_

* * *

_

"_The one who holds the Triforce of Courage…_

_

* * *

_

"_Oh, what is this? There on your hand—the Triforce of Courage now dwells within you!"_

"_W-What?"_

_

* * *

_

"_Link…" _

_

* * *

_

"…_is you, Link!"_

_

* * *

_

"_It is proof that you are indeed the true hero!"_

_

* * *

_

"…_hero, sent by the goddesses."

* * *

_

"_And the other, who holds the Triforce of Wisdom…"_

_

* * *

_

"_Tetra, come to me."_

"_Huh?"_

_

* * *

_

_"Like you, I have been granted—" _

_

* * *

_

"…_Is the seventh sage, destined to be the leader of them all."_

_

* * *

_

"—_a special power by the goddesses."_

_

* * *

_

"…_and so the time has come for me to teach you the fate into which you were born, the very reason you live."_

_

* * *

_

"_It is I, the Princess of Hyrule…"_

_

* * *

_

_What is this light…?_

_

* * *

_

"_Zelda."_

_

* * *

_

"_Link…" _

"_Tetra…?" _

"_I don't know how to say this…Everything that's happened to you and your poor sister… It's all been my fault… I'm so sorry." _

"_Hey! You've never apologized before… so why start now? Com'on! Stop making that sad face, OK? Everything will be alright! I promise."_

"_Link…" _

"_Just wait right here, alright? I'll be back as soon as possible, Tetra! Heheh…"_

"_But…"_

_

* * *

_

"_Please protect me, while I do my part…"_

_

* * *

_

"_Lend us the last of your power…"_

_

* * *

_

_But… above all else…_

_

* * *

_

"…_Be careful…"_

_

* * *

_

…

* * *

…

* * *

"_Oh! The blacksmith boy! Hee Hee! Good morning!"_

"_Morn—h-hey! Aren't you…"_

"_Hee hee hee…"_

"_What are you doing outside here…?"_

"_Playing!"_

"_But shouldn't you be…"_

"_Hm… You know what? I would love to play 'Damsel and Knight' right now!"_

" …'_Damsel and Knight'?"_

"_Yes! And I'll be the damsel!...Hey, you… Would you care to be my knight?"_

_

* * *

_

"Uhm…"

Was that… a cloud?

A very colorful cloud, dancing before his eyes, changing shape all the time… No, wait. The blur started to fade… The image became clearer. He saw a wall… There were pictures on it. Pictographs… Him, Aryll, Grandma… He was in his room?

"…"

…What just happened? Oh yes… the temple had collapsed…

How did they get out again? Had Toki actually managed to carry them out? How? …He remembered hearing him scream. …Another one of those masks, maybe? Like the one he used on Forest Haven? …Yeah, probably.

Inside his mind, Kaze scolded himself for not being able to get them out of the temple himself. Then Toki wouldn't have had to do this… Why had he suddenly been so powerless again? What had happened, down there? It was just like the day before… when he jumped after Aryll.

He gulped.

But maybe… maybe he was only having those weird fits because of the stress. Maybe his body couldn't quite handle running on half of its usual energy with all the stuff going on around them. Yeah, that was probably it.

…Undeniable proof that Toki could handle much more than him. He sighed.

"Ah…"

"Oh. You're awake!"

Kaze turned to the side, slowly lifting his upper body a little from the bed. He faced the other boy sitting on a chair nearby. Toki smiled. "And I already wondered why those weird visions stopped… you were dreaming, right?"

"Uhm… yeah…" Kaze slowly nodded. "Wait…You saw it… even though you were awake?"

"Yes…" Toki answered. "I tell you, it was kind of weird to see all this stuff with my eyes open…Like I had been remembering things without wanting to, you know?"

Kaze gave this description a short thought… So they could even see each other's dreams while awake? …So that was where the voices the night before had come from. Toki had still been asleep then… yet, for some reason he only heard the dream's voices, but didn't see its pictures. How weird…

"By the way…How long have I been out?" Kaze finally asked.

"About three hours. It's ten in the evening now."

"And you've been awake all the time?"

"Couldn't sleep." Toki sighed. "I somehow wasn't tired at all. Also, after what happened in the temple, I was too worried… But it seems you're back to normal now, right? …Almost, at least."

It was easy to tell by Toki's eyes that he was still feeling guilty. Kaze lowered his head a little. "It's not your fault, you know? I was the one who brought you here in first place."

"But I feel like I'm leeching from you like a parasite…"

"…"

Kaze wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. After all, it was true that he was down to half of his life-force due to Toki being present… Then again, he wondered: Wasn't this actually for the better in a certain way? After all, there was no denying that Toki was a more skilled warrior than him and much more durable. With him, this power was used a whole lot more efficiently and working together, they were progressing faster than Kaze could ever have done it on his own. He had helped him so much… and now, there he was, the legendary Hero of Time, comparing himself to a parasite. That was just not right… He was not stealing from him. They were sharing. That's what the sages had said too, wasn't it? In any case… he was not leeching. Very definitely not.

Toki, on the other hand, couldn't continue this conversation either, but for different reasons. There was something that worried him: Kaze almost collapsing, shortly after his Zelda did… Just barely an hour ago, Toki had realized that, no matter what this weird fit of his had actually been…it _couldn't_ have been the fairy's doing. Twinrova told her she didn't have enough power left to attack. She couldn't have harmed him any longer; she was powerless. And Twinrova themselves were never really present. They were not the cause for what had happened to him, so… there had to be another reason for this… And this other explanation…

…

…Also, if they were sharing their life-force, why hadn't this affected him as well? It should have.

…There had been one other case where he had collapsed like this in the past two days… One that hadn't affected Toki either…

A silence, which left both sides with an awkward feeling, reigned for about two minutes, before Toki finally opened his mouth but changed the topic doing so: "You and the current Zelda…"

"Hm?" Kaze looked up, waiting for Toki to continue his question.

"You… didn't get along well with each other right away?"

A short laugh escaped Kaze's lips when he heard this. He shook his head. "No, not really… Ah, who am I kidding? We could barely stand each other!" He closed his eyes and smiled, content. "But once we came to know each other better and gained each other's respect… Well, we became friends."

"I see…"

Toki slowly turned his head to the side, looking at the seemingly hastily-built bed out of boxes and a straw mattress, which was in the corner of the room. The blonde girl was lying on it, sleeping still.

"She's a strange person, isn't she?..."

"Tetra!"

It was just now, that Kaze as well noticed the girl and quickly jumped out of the bed. He hurried over to where she lay. "How long has she been sleeping?" he asked nervously.

"Pretty much the same as you. She hasn't woken up ever since we got out of the temple."

"Oh…"

Link touched her by the shoulder. "Tetra…" he whispered first, but then he couldn't hold back and took her hands. "Tetra, wake up! Say something, please!"

"Uhh…"

This was when the body on the bed started to move, reacting to Link's calls. Slowly the girl's eyes opened and her head immediately swept to the side, where the boys where. She seemed quite dizzy, yet fixed her eyes on the boys. Kaze smiled in great relief.

"Tetra!" He leaned down to her and said, "Thank goodness… Are you alright? You didn't get wounded, did you?"

She didn't say a thing. Instead, she kept blissfully gazing at him… him and the other 'him', alternately. Silently, she smiled.

"Tetra…" He appeared to be confused by this. "…Is something wrong?"

Finally, the girl took a deep breath and spoke:

"…How many years have passed, since I was last allowed to see this look in those eyes?..."

With her smile unchanged, she looked at the boy in a way which made it seem like she was examining him with great interest. "I thank you… thank you, for still caring this much about me. Link…"

"Tetra…?" Confusion took over Kaze's face. That was Tetra…? No… Something was wrong. Something was surely wrong. He was about to panic when another voice interrupted his thoughts.

"…Zelda?"

Still looking puzzled, Kaze turned towards the other Link, who had said this last word. Toki approached the bed and as a nostalgic expression appeared on his face, he fixed his eyes on the girl's. "It… It is you, right? You're Zelda… My Zelda…"

Her smile grew a little bigger.

"Link…"

She carefully lifted her arm into the air and offered him her hand so he could take it.

"Zelda…"

"B-But…" In shock, Kaze actually pushed Toki a little bit to the side just so he could face Zelda better. "What about Tetra? If you're the ancient Zelda… Does that mean we were too late? Was Tetra… e-era…sed?"

He barely managed to get out the last word, since his throat had started to feel sore all of the sudden as he spoke.

"There is no need to worry," Zelda told him softly. "'Tetra' is sleeping in the place where I am supposed to sleep, among the others. But do not worry. She will awaken again. I will not allow myself to usurp a place that is no longer mine. The memories of the one who knows the world of the present are the ones that are supposed to flow through this mind. The past is meant to sleep. This is the order things are meant to be. And this is the one order I would never dare to break. 'Princess Zelda' is only here to bring you a message from the past. A message which 'Tetra' could not give you. This is the only reason."

"Zelda…" Toki looked at her in a melancholic way. "I…I wish I could do something for you…"

"You already are doing something for me," she answered. "You are here, allowing me to see you. You are allowing me to know that you still exist. And this alone… brings me calm."

Zelda took a few deep breaths. She was obviously tired. "Link…" she said, turning towards Toki, "…you do carry the Ocarina of Time on you, am I right?"

"Yes." He nodded. "I would never dare to lose it or give it away…But…" His head then lowered a little. "It is not the real one, right? Just like this 'me' right now…like I am not…"

Hearing this, Kaze felt a little unsettled. So Toki suffered from what Eyne claimed after all… He wished he had a way to help him.

"Link…" Zelda paused, before she went on to nod a little. "This Ocarina… It was created from memories of the original one, like everything else you have on you. It emulates the original one's powers… by drawing from your life-force and the Triforce."

When she mentioned the term "life-force," the guilt once again took over Toki's expression for a moment. Kaze wanted to tell him that it was not his fault again, but he refrained from doing so, knowing that it was no use. The other boy would have just kept on blaming himself regardless.

"Still, even just emulating its power could be enough to fulfill the purpose it is needed for most right now… Listen to my words, I beg of you."

The boys focused all their attention on Zelda, who kept smiling, as she explained, "There is something on this island… something I once entrusted one of your relatives with, Link."

"Relatives…?"

Toki listened up. That word seemed so weird and out of place in context with his own name… Somewhat excited, he went on to ask, "So… there were relatives left after all?"

Zelda nodded before she continued, "Link… I know that you have been told that there are two worlds…are you aware in which world you are right now?"

Toki took a moment to consider his answer before he gave it.

"…The destroyed future, from which you sent me away, right?"

"Right."

"Huh?" This answer hit Kaze as a surprise. "You… You mean… this is the world from which you were sent _away_? But I thought…"

Toki took a short breath and turned towards Kaze again. "I realized this some time ago, after regaining my remaining memories. I started out thinking that this was the world I lived out my childhood in, but then I realized that there's too much stuff that just doesn't fit right. Including the fact that your legends claim that I disappeared after defeating Ganon and didn't return when he attacked again…But this way, it makes sense. I disappeared, because Zelda sent me back. This is the only explanation…"

"Toki…"

"I am sorry I didn't tell you right when I found out… but there was one thing that worried me…" Toki turned towards Zelda.

"Because… I am an orphan. I was convinced that I had no living relatives left. And if you sending me back actually caused the world to split and left behind a world where I didn't exist anymore from this point on… This would mean he and I can't be related! I always thought that reincarnation only works in one's own bloodline. And that made me wonder… if something maybe was wrong with him because of this…" He turned towards Kaze again, looking at him in a slightly nervous manner. "I was afraid that you'd start worrying about this if I told you. That's why I refused to. I am sorry."

"So this was what you didn't want to tell me on the ship…?"

Kaze bit his lip. Toki had only not told him because he wanted to keep him from worrying. He felt so… childish right now. Yeah. The whole argument had been a childish fit on his part. He should have known it…

"Link…" Princess Zelda took their attention again. "When I sent you back in time, I wanted to give you back, what the battles took from you… The childhood nobody deserved more than you. But… I didn't realize that the world had changed too much. That is was impossible for those seven years you lost to be regained in the world we lived in. After I had sent you back, I searched for you. I thought I could find you, dwelling somewhere in this world. That you would just return to Hyrule one day and tell me about the seven years you reclaimed and spent… But you never came. And, as the years passed and I grew older and wiser… I started to realize what terrible mistake I had committed." Her eyes got a little wet. "You couldn't live out those seven years in _this_ world. In this world, those seven years were gone and lost. So, when I sent you back… When I sent you back, your actions created a new future. A future in which everything was rewritten… The past had left us behind, cut off from us and created a new outcome for itself. And the original future… our world… was left without you. I had unwittingly erased you from this world. Not just your body, but your soul as well. You… just didn't exist any longer. So you couldn't come back. Not the way I knew you… and not even in a new body, reincarnated."

She stopped a second, as she noticed a weird, surprised and confused look appearing on Kaze's face, while Toki's barely changed. She finally resumed talking:

"Twenty years passed, and I wondered what kind of new future you had been granted, while we rebuilding our Hyrule… Only to see the seal the sages and me had cast breaking one day. Ganondorf returned and attacked. And you weren't there. You couldn't come. You couldn't help us. Because I had 'erased' you…" She paused again for a moment. "Hyrule succumbed to Ganondorf's evil with no chance for salvation. As its people… we all prayed for a miracle. And those prayers were eventually granted… but we paid for this miracle with our home. As everybody else fled the drowning realm, I stayed longer than I had planned… My father was refusing to leave the castle. I tried to persuade father to come and flee to the mountaintops with me, but he had been overrun by his guilt of ever having trusted Ganondorf in the past and refused to come. When I finally let go of him and fled, Ganondorf found me. I could barely save myself… But he destroyed the Ocarina of Time, which I had been holding on to when I encountered him."

"Why would he destroy the Ocarina? The Triforce wasn't in the Sacred Realm any longer, there was no need for the key to it!" Toki asked.

Zelda resumed talking. "The Ocarina of Time is an instrument of the goddesses. It can call out to them. Its songs can be like prayers towards the deities themselves, louder than any mortal being's voice could ever be… And even with the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf still was no match for the Goddesses. And he knew it. So he wanted to cut every connection to them we had… However… Before I left the frozen Hyrule behind, I took one of the remaining shards of the Ocarina and mended it into my father's sacred baton, so it wouldn't lose its magical properties during the stasis. I wanted him to have something he could protect himself with, in the event that the seal on Ganondorf was broken…"

"My Wind Waker…" Kaze assumed and the Princess nodded.

"Yes. I preserved part of the Ocarina's power within it, increasing its original powers immensely. I assume its strength still faded over the centuries, but not as much as it would originally have. And you also have this copy of the Ocarina of Time… So, I think, together you might be able to play the melodies, the goddesses' prayers, which were originally meant for the Ocarina. Also… As I watched our Hyrule, our kingdom drown beneath the waves slow and steadily, as the days passed by, I threw away my crown… I walked among the people as just one of them, and let them believe that their Princess was dead. I wanted them to forget me. I, again, used the name I had chosen for myself in my seven years of hiding. Out of fear, I had not told anyone what happened to you, leading them to believe that you had abandoned us… I am sorry."

Zelda seemed to feel immense regret as she told them this.

"But… yet, I never gave up the hope that maybe… maybe you could still return to us one day. So I searched with all the knowledge I had, among the survivors of Hyrule… And I met _her_…"

Zelda smiled a little again.

"A woman who resembled you… she resembled you so much, my heart jumped when I first met her. Without revealing who I really was, I begun to talk to her and ask her about her family, her upbringing, where she lived… and eventually realized that she was related to the royal knights."

"The royal knights?" Toki asked, surprised.

"Most of them fell during a war… My father told me about it. And that I was barely a year old when it happened. I also found out that apparently the wife of their leader went missing during this war…Along with their infant child."

The word "infant child" caused Toki's expression to change. He suddenly understood where Zelda was going with this.

"Link, think about it. With me barely a year old… and this child most likely near my own age… Doesn't it seem to fit seamlessly?"

"So… my father was the leader of the Hylian Knights?" he asked in surprise.

" It seems like it… no. No, I am sure… And so... When I found this woman…" Zelda smiled. "I can't describe the way I felt. I had found one of your relatives…A spark of hope for you to return. Regardless of my careless mistakes… So I entrusted her with one of the three melodies the goddesses had given us and said the following words to her: 'I believe in the Hero. He will return. We just have to seek among the children.' And I think she and her people never forgot those words."

"Outset is the only island which kept passing down the Hero of Time's story…" Kaze thought aloud. "Everywhere else, I get weird looks for my clothes… So by 'her people' you mean the people of Outset?... But…"

He looked up. "Even if this is true, there is still something I can't understand. If his… _our_ soul didn't exist any longer in this world, how… how am I here then? Why am I not in this other world? And… if there even, uhm… 'One of us' in this other world then?"

"I don't know this…" Zelda said, "but...it doesn't matter in my eyes. As long as you… exist…"

Her eyes rested on Kaze. "It may have taken 1000 years and everyone may have already forgotten you… But you came back. Even if you did not remember your purpose, you came back. Just in time to finally stop Ganondorf—I am sorry you had to face him so young."

He just shook his head. "Don't worry, Princess. Yes, it was hard… But there were also many things which I would not want to miss. So many people I would have never met, if everything went differently…" Kaze looked up and smiled. "But I am glad to be who I am."

Zelda nodded, understanding. "And I am glad to know that you are here... Now I know my hope was not in vain. Now I know that I did not cause you to cease existing… That your soul stayed alive. Finally, my sleep can be a peaceful one…"

She sighed once. "My time here is growing short. If I stay much longer, I may not be able to seal the 'me' of the past, as it is supposed to be, and become 'Tetra' again…"

"Zelda…" Toki seemed to want to tell her something, but then his eyes rested on Kaze a second and he stayed silent.

"What you need to restore the order… The only thing that can still return the balance now… You will find it on this island. And it will be marked with the Symbol of Cycles."

The boys nodded.

"But you have to hurry. Even if your current state protects you from suffering the fate I just barely can protect 'Tetra' from, the situation will not refrain from taking its toll on you. Especially as you are now, you could suffer unknown, yet surely serious consequences…I am certain. You must make haste."

"Understood," they answered together.

"Link…" She looked at Toki, took his hand again and smiled. "I will be waiting there for you."

"Where?" he asked puzzled.

"You will understand once you see it."

The mysterious smile on Zelda lips made Link somehow feel secure… Somehow he was certain that she was right…

"I will now restore the weakened seal…on everything that is supposed to be restrained…" She finally let go of his hand. "…Until we meet again…Link…"

Zelda folded her hands and took a deep breath, as the Triforce on her right hand started to glow. The golden shine expanded across her whole body, while she breathed in a consistent rhythm and slowly closed her eyes. The smile faded. Suddenly, her folded hands separated from each other and fell down, left and right of her body. Her head tilted to the side…

When the Links saw this, their pupils narrowed in shock.

"Zelda!"

Kaze took her by the shoulders, as Toki took her hands, but they didn't act beyond that. They had no idea what to do. What was going to happen now? Had something went wrong?

"Uhm…" Just then, the girl started blinking again. "What…"

Seeing the girl opening her eyes again, a somewhat relieved smiled passed over Toki's face, as Kaze sighed. The girl finally raised her upper body up a little, as both Toki and Kaze let go of her. She shook her head a little.

"What are…you saying?... 'Zelda'?" She put her hand to her forehead and shook her head once again, as if she still hadn't got it clear. "Ungh… Seriously… How many times do I have to tell you… My name's 'Tetra'…Is it _that_ hard to remember?"

Pure joy was the best description for Kaze's reaction when he heard the bossy tone in the girl's voice.

"TETRA!"

The immense enthusiasm made the girl just rolled her eyes. "I see you got i—WOAH!"

Kaze had jumped at Tetra and gone on to hug her. "You're back! You're OK!"

The pirate girl struggled to get her neck free of the boy's arms. "Ugh… This won't be the case for much longer if you _suffocate_ me!"

"Oh…S-Sorry!" He quickly loosened his grip and backed off a little. Finally he sighed, "Ahh…please, never scare me like this, alright? I thought you were… gone!"

"Hm." In reaction to this, Tetra raised her upper body, crossed her arms before it and stated, "Oh please! You thought _that_ was gonna kill me? Seriously Link, you should know me better than that! A lot better, actually. You're one _hero…_"

Link's relieve seemed to gradually fade, while he listened to her speech. Even his eyebrows eventually got drawn towards the centre of his face, making him seem irate… which he probably was. Finally he replied to her words in a rather angry tone, "Well, excu~se me for being worried about you, _princess_!" he exclaimed somewhat bitterly. "I _just_ thought that I was never gonna see you again! I-I mean… I… didn't know what I should do! I…"

Tetra looked up in surprise when she realized how desperate he sounded.

"Link…?"

"Oh… just forget it, alright?"

He turned towards Toki again. "Say, do you have any idea where that thing Zelda was talking about could be?"

"You mean the song? Well, I guess we'll have to keep our eyes open and search for anything marked with the Symbol of Cycles."

It was Tetra who has answered this, dumbfounding the two boys.

"How do you know about that?" Kaze asked.

Tetra sighed, exhausted. "I remember everything that just happened… And, oh boy, did that feel weird—! Ah, whatever…" She looked up and leaned back a little with a sigh. "So, the score for the song has been given to one of Link's ancestors is supposedly hidden somewhere on Outset Island. I guess we should search through this house first then… But where in this house could you possibly hide something important like that? Link?"

"I dunno…" Kaze replied, thinking for a little while. "I know our house better than any other place in the world, and there is absolutely no place where you could safely hide valuable stuff in here… Grandma keeps her precious belongings in a drawer and we don't have any kind of safe or something… nor a cellar, or—"

A realization hit Kaze, before he could say the next word. He and Toki turned towards each other, noticing that they just had the same thought. Somewhat surprised, they voiced this thought together:

"The attic!"

* * *

"Ungh… just… a little bit… higher!"

"I can't go higher! You're too shor—"

"Just try to… ungh… get me higher up, OK?"

Desperately struggling to reach the small, sapphire-blue box on the highest shelf, Kaze once again cursed his laughable height mentally, while Toki was already standing on the tip of his toes, to get him up higher. The latter turned his head towards the attic door.

"There's nobody coming, is there?"

"No, the coast's still clear!" Tetra, who was guarding said door, confirmed. "Emphasis on 'still'… You'd better hurry. So your Grandma doesn't want you to go up here, Link?"

"Ungh… Last time, she became all… weird!" he explained, trying to stretch further. "Argh… If I just were a tiny… little bit… taller… Just one inch… more…ungh…"

He stretched further, despite his muscles already starting to hurt from it. Squeezing his eyelids together, he finally felt how his fingers touched the velvet cover of the box.

"Ah! Yay!" He wanted to grab it as fast as possible, but this was when voices reached his ears.

"Huh? Y-You? No, you can't come i—"

"BIG BROTHER!"

Tetra failed at stopping Aryll from storming into the room. Her voice surprised Kaze, causing him to lose his balance. "W-WOAH!" Along with the small box under his fingers, as well as a ton of different books and documents, he slid off Toki's hands and fell down to the floor. Both, he and Toki, were buried under a thick layer of paper objects.

"Ungh…"Still trembling a little, Kaze took the book which was covering his face and removed it…

Aryll's big, round, sparkling eyes were looking at him. "Huh? Big Brother, what are you doing up here? Didn't Grandma tell us to never ever go here again?"

He quickly rose up from the floor, shaking his head. "She told you too! Aww… Aryll, now Grandma surely hea—"

"Oh my, what is this ruckus?"

Kaze gulped at the sound of the voice of the person who was apparently ascending the stairs this very moment. "Oh no…"

He and Toki exchanged nervous glances, as Tetra quickly hurried back to the door. Voices reached the boys from outside just seconds later.

"Oh! I… I wouldn't go in there right now, if I was you, ma'am!"

"Huh? But… Did something happen in there, girl?"

"Uhm, well, there are… rats! Yes, exactly, homogenous rats have taken over your attic, ma'am! I-It's true!"

(This was the moment when Kaze could have sworn that he heard Tetra mumbling, _'I'm so gonna kill him for this…'_ but that was probably just his paranoid imagination. Of course, this didn't prevent him from gulping at said paranoid imagination. )

"…Rats? …Oh, my girl, are you sure you don't need a little more rest?"

"Hey! Hands off my forehead!—Ah, I mean…No! Don't go in, ma'am! Can't we talk about thi—"

Too late.

Link's Grandmother had entered the attic. And the look that she had on her face as she saw her two grandchildren and the second boy in midst the chaos they had caused made it obvious that she, for some reason, wasn't expecting this. Probably because she would have never thought that her grandchildren would disobey her warning. Silently… well, actually more like 'frozen', she stared at them and the emptied shelf in alteration.

"…Children…?"

"G-Grandma!" Kaze hurried up to her and lowered his head in guilt. "I am so sorry, we didn't mean to do this, but… we thought… we couldn't let you know that… well… we had to search for something important up here quickly, really! It's the truth!"

Afraid of the scolding that should have followed now, Link closed his eyes and took a deep breath… but he soon had to realize that he worried for nothing. Even though that it seemed for a moment like his Grandma was about to shout, judged by the look on her face, the expression changed soon, especially once she caught a glance of the book that her grandson had removed from his face a few minutes ago and was still holding in his left hand. A faint smile passed over her face, when she finally sighed, "Well, well…So you were searching for something? May I ask for what?"

"Uhm…" Link was dumbstruck by the soft tone in his Grandma's voice. She was supposed to be furious now… Why was she reacting as calmly as this?

Meanwhile, Toki was kneeling on the floor, digging around in the pile of old books and documents. "Well…" Finally, he found what he had been searching for. "We thought it might be this…"

He went up to the other boy's grandma, the small blue box in his hands. As he approached, she took a closer look at it, nodded understanding and closed her eyes for a few moments as she seemed to remember something.

"Grandma…" Finally, Kaze asked the question that was on his mind right now. "…Aren't you mad? I mean… you told us not to go up here so many times."

"Ah…" The old woman sighed once again and it was apparent that she was struggling to say something, but was held back by some kind of regret. Finally, she turned towards her grandson and smiled. "My little Link… Are you aware what kind of things we store up here?"

A short silence reigned, before Link lowered his head a little and voiced his suggestion: "…Relics of the ancient kingdom of Hyrule?"

Slowly, the elderly woman nodded, as she went over to the pile and started to tidy up the fallen books and documents and went on explaining: "The knowledge of the content of those, as well as how to even decipher them were lost over the centuries… But still we keep those things stored here and watch out for them, since they are all our ancestors left us. We may not be able to read them and the pictures may barely tell more than a rough draft of the stories they are meant to convey, but still those books have an enormous worth to us…"

"Wow… Grandma, does that mean those things are hundreds and hundreds of years old?" Aryll asked, and she got a nod as an answer.

"Well, this explains the shield…" Toki said, throwing a quick glance towards the shield on Kaze's back. Kaze had meanwhile gone to help his Grandmother clean up the chaos that he and his friends had made and after a few moments, Tetra, Toki and Arylljoined in too. Like this, they finished in less than ten minutes and finally stood before a shelf full of neatly aligned books once more. They sighed in relief… none of them seemed to be damaged.

"Link…" Grandma finally said something again.

"Huh?" Her Grandson looked over to her as she smiled.

"The book you are holding…"

"…I'm holding…?—Oh!" Just now he noticed that he was still holding onto the book that he had picked up from his face. "Oh, I forgot about this one! Wait, I'll put it back right a—"

"Link." His Grandmother interrupted him on his way to the shelf. "Take a look at it..."

"Hm?" Surprised, the boy stood still for a few moments. Then, he raised the book up to his eyelevel and examined it closer. The cover was made of leather and there was nothing written on it. It looked rather bland and plain. This was a rather sharp contrast to all the other books here, which were decorated by ornaments on pictures on their covers…

Just now Link realized something odd about this book. It didn't look… old. It looked used, but not ancient, just like a book that someone used a few times too often. The paper didn't have the distinct yellow tone to it and the cover looked rather intact. Confused, Link threw his grandma a look and she replied with a gesture, telling him to open the book. And he did so. As soon as his eyes swept over the random page he had opened it, he exclaimed, surprised, "H-Hey… I can read this?"

"Hm?" Interested, Tetra went over to her friend and looked over his shoulder. She then went onto sigh in a disappointed way. "Of course you can. That's _our_ language, you genius."

Link then looked up from the book. "Grandma…" A curious look was in his eyes. "If this book is not from the ancient Kingdom, what is it doing up here then?"

She just kept smiling. "Link… why don't you just read something from it out? Just one page?"

Confused but curious, Link did as his Grandma said, turned to the book again and started to read out the page before him:

_6-5-XXXX_

_Whatever deity thought heatwaves where a fun thing to cast upon us must have been deeply sadistic. Well, at least there's no way in the world I'm gonna do any work today. I feel like I'd melt into puddle every second and something tells me the children feel the same. _

_Marian says we should keep them inside today because of the sun… Heh. As if that would help. I am convinced that the air in here has gotten thinner in the past two hours… notably. And I think the kids would rather play in the cool water right now than be steam-boiled in here. …And that's why I'm gonna sneak down to the Beach with them now. Yes, that's exactly what they need now! Swimming in the ocean! The one true activity to do in this kind of weather! Marian and her 'sun' won't make me deny my children that! _

_6-5-XXXX_

_Second Entry_

_Heheheh… Uhm…Alright. Let's record this in a more conventional way for once…_

_Dear Journal. _

_Please remind me to hit myself the next time before I cause one of my kids to get sunstroke. Thank you._

_Poor Link…_

_Sturgeon adviced me to keep him in bed the next few days and keep the windows covered… Probably that's how I should have tried to keep the room cool in the first place. I feel incredibly dumb now… _

_It doesn't seem to be too bad, but there is still something deeply unsettling about that weird, absentminded look he has in his eyes right now…__Or maybe it's the fact that he called me "duck" a few minutes ago, I don't know… I just hope he's gonna be alright. At least Aryll is fine. I think Marian would have killed me if I brought the baby home in that same condition…_

_By the way, both my mother and Marian are not talking to me anymore and, to be honest, I can understand why. I admit, it was a stupid idea, period. _

…_Marian is right. I am absolutely incapable of taking care of the children by myself…_

"…I think… I remember…"

Link had closed his eyes and was trying to recall something. "…Mom had told me to stay inside, but Dad waited until she had gone to fetch water. He took us to the beach then… I don't remember much else, except that I suddenly got dizzy and felt sick… I had to stay in bed a whole week, I think... I still know that Mom got angry. I didn't understand why. I thought it was somehow my fault and felt guilty…"

"You were just six years old, it's only natural you didn't understand." His Grandmother smiled warmly, as the boy looked up from the book, at her.

"Grandma…" he started a question, "is this… Dad's… my father's…?"

He didn't understand… His father's journal? What was his father's journal doing up here? Among all those things...

…The attic was the one place he and Aryll had never been allowed to go… Maybe because everything here were things they were not supposed to see? But why? What harm could it do?

"Children, let's go down," Grandma finally stated after a pause. "So we can sit down and continue a more comfortable way."

As the elderly woman turned around and left the attic, the children exchanged short glances before they silently followed her downstairs. It was exactly like last time…

When they all had found a place to sit, Grandma took a deep breath. She seemed to be hesitant about what she was about to say, but after a quick nod to herself, she turned towards her Grandson. "Link…" He focused attention and listened to her. "Please open the following date in the book …"

"Huh?" As she said the numbers, Link jerked, surprised. "But… that's my…"

"Please, read it, Link."

After a short pause, Link turned towards the book again. He opened it and searched the date his Grandmother had told him… there it was. Pretty much in the centre of the book. Now, Link too had to take a deep breath… before he started reading:

_I don't know what to write now… I know I should write something here, because a day like this needs to be recorded, but I just have no words left. I maybe should say now, that I am incredibly happy, but this is a vast understatement. All I can say is that I am a father now. And that Marian is a mother. …Father and Mother… Father and Mother! …This is weird. _

_Oh, by the way..._

…_Something weird happened when we named him. It's like this: We've been going through possible names for weeks now, searching for good ones and yet never couldn't quite decide was our child would be called once it was there. But once he was there… actually there and we were about to name him… We suddenly decided on a name we had never even considered before. _

_Link._

_I don't know how we came up with this one, really… But it is a nice name, isn't it? It sounds like… something, I don't know. Something special in any case. Well, special is always good, I guess! Ah, that reminds me! I can't wait until he turns twelve! I want to see my little kid in those clothes! Hm… Mother claims he took after me… Hopefully not when it comes to skill. Orca still proudly states that if he had to choose between eating bombs for breakfast and letting me run around freely with a sword, he'd pick the bombs… And I have the feeling that this would be a good choice, actually. I mean, with my luck…__Now that I think about it, I just hope that Mother is wrong and Link takes after Marian. That would probably the best for everyone. _

_Ah, I still can't believe that I'm a father! Please poke me!_

Reading this, Link had to laugh. So this was what was on his father's mind the day he was born? It was weird to read this writing now… Like taking a look into the past.

…As soon as he stopped laughing, Link felt deep sadness taking over. His parents… His father had wished for seeing him in the Hero's Clothes… But they never got to see him the way he was now. Would they have been proud of him? He hoped they would…

"Link." Grandma got his attention again. She seemed hesitant again, but carried on, "Please read the next entry too…"

Wondering what was on his Grandmother's mind, Link touched the page, ready to turn it, but still paused a moment before he quickly nodded. "…OK."

He turned the page and carried on.

…The next entry was three entire days later…

_Am I… supposed to cry now? I'm not quite sure… _

_I could also opt to be proud, but I find that inappropriate. Especially seeing how Marian feels at the moment. Poor Marian… _

_I still don't know whether I should actually write what I am about to write down now… If I do, I must make sure that really nobody except me, Marian and Mother ever reads this book. But I have to write it down. Otherwise I will just declare it a dream and pretend that it never happened. I mustn't do that. It would be a big mistake, I'm sure. So I have to start to get to the point…_

… _It's about Link._

_--- Note _

_Alternate Chapter Title: TONS OF BADLY DISTRIBUTED EXPOSITION! -.-;_

_So, let's go through everything happening here…_

_First, we got a Psychic Dream of Epic Length. It's basically not more than mixing some Canon with some Wild Mass Guessing by myself. This vision is mainly there to underline the Tetra-Zelda scene in the last chapter, but also to set up some character development regarding Link. _

_I excuse for this chapter's focus on Ze-Link shipping to anyone who finds it corny and cliché. I need it for the plot._

_Everyone who caught the television-reference in the dialogue between Tetra and Link was obviously unfortunate enough to see the Zelda Cartoon Series at some point in the past. I feel with you. Let's share the psychological pain, in order to lessen it. _

_Yes, I am developing TWW Link's background a little here. In case you don't remember, Marian and Conis are the names I used for his parents 3 chapters back. _

"_Marian" is a reference to both, Marin and Malon, as well as having the "Ari" from "Aryll" in there. And if you guess I derived "Conis'" name from "Colin", you guessed right. You just gotta love the cute little blonde kid…^^_


	33. Those Two and Him

Chapter 32

Those Two and Him

_I once wrote that Mother always claimed that pirates would never attack Outset, because there's not much worth plundering here, right? Well, apparently Mother had been very, very wrong._

_So they attacked. It was the gang of this Luca woman… She's pretty infamous for not only being a pirate but also an art- and literature-thief. She apparently already relieved all of Windfall Island of any ancient treasures whatsoever. And so, we all were quite dumbstruck when her ship approached. It's not like we had anything that could interest her… well, so we thought. Everybody fled inside, closing up the houses as tightly as we could. Not that this would have stopped her…_

* * *

"Mind if I disturb you?"

The woman tightened the grip on her cutlass, as if to show that she would have no regrets using it in the case that the young man before her would try to cause her any trouble. He, however, faked a smile and attempted to chuckle, as if to hide his nervousness. "Sorry, but if you're searching for valuable stuff, I have to disappoint you! You won't find as much as a golden flower pot in here!"

"Hmm... nothing valuable, you say?"

She took a few steps into the room, closely examining every corner, which visibly made it harder for the man to keep up his already transparent, calm act. Finally, she halted before a shelf, kicked it, and caught the book which fell down. She took a look at it. "Ah... Written in the language of the Hylia..." She browsed through the first few pages and smirked, satisfied. "Which means that it's at least a thousand years old... And thus valuable! Tha~nk you!"

She put the book into her bag, as the young man watched in shock. "H-Hey! That's a family heirloom! You have no right to take this! Put it back, you dirty—"

He stormed towards her, but the woman drew her cutlass and put it to his throat, causing him to stop abruptly. Had he run a single step more, his head would have come clean off... The woman smiled mischievously at the man's big eyes upon realizing that he (who was unarmed) was just reckless enough to try attacking her (who was armed), which was pretty much akin to suicide.

"ARGH! You... WITCH! What do you want with it anyway? It's not like you could sell this anywhere! Trust us, we have been searching for somebody who can read it everywhere and nobody can! No one would buy it from you!"

"OK, stop now, when did I ever mention wanting to make money out of it?" She rolled her eyes, still holding the cutlass to his throat. "My goodness, you are annoying! Jumping to conclusions like that... I just like this kind of old artifacts, you know? Call it a hobby of mine."

"A-A hobby? This book belonged to our ancestors!" he shouted. "You heartless... You could never understand what it means to our family, even if you tried, you... YOU...Ungh!"

The woman had touched his throat with the blade for a moment, causing him to jerk. Thankfully, she pulled it back a little right away. "Oh, you just hold your breath, alright? Now, listen to me: You may consider this book your heirloom... but I consider this whole archipelago mine! And thus I take from it what I please!"

She looked at him with a piercing, yet teasing, look and laughed, while the young man felt the strong desire to beat her to a pulp... But he was everything but in the position to do this. He growled a little as the pirate lowered her cutlass and let her eyes sweep around... "Hm... still, you were kind of right. Not much else to take inside here, except for this..." The door to the next room caught her attention. "I wonder if the other rooms are any better?"

She took a few steps towards the door and was about to open it, when she heard the man behind her shout, "No! MARIAN!"

A woman's voice replied with a loud "Huh?" from behind the door.

The pirate grinned when she heard this. She turned around, towards the man, who was now sweating heavily and shaking. "Oh, so you're married?"

Right after she said that, the sound of a infant's crying reached her ears from behind the door. She laughed. "And a father! ...The kid's just recently born, huh?..." The second sentence was more mumbled than outright spoken. She continued at her usual loud volume right afterwards. "Well, I'll go in then and congratulate the lucky mother~!"

Luca, the pirate, turned towards the door again and wanted to open it, but the young man, Conis, rushed up to her and threw himself in-between Luca and the door as quickly as he could. "If you dare to lay hands onto my wife or my son, I promise you, you won't live to see tomorrow's daylight!"

Luca sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, oh, somebody help me, an unarmed douchebag is threatening me. I am _so_ scared."

She then pushed Conis out of the way into a chair near the door, causing him to trip and fall. Luca didn't pay him any more attention, taking the doorknob and opening it. A high-pitched shriek greeted her, as she entered the room behind and she spotted a young woman, sitting on a bed on the other side of the room, holding an infant child in her arms. The child was still crying, just like Luca had heard it from behind the door.

"W-What did you do to my husband?" the young woman asked, scared.

"Nothing," Luca answered honestly. "He just did as gentlemen do and let the lady pass first. And now, excuse me, I'm just browsing around a little if you don't mind..."

With sharp eyes, Luca went through the room, taking a close look at everything that could have been of interest. Meanwhile, Marian fearfully shielded her crying baby with her arms. "Don't worry, deary, she won't hurt you, I won't let her hurt you, she won't come near you, I won't let her come near you, I..."

"Oh, _shut up, _I'm trying to think!" Luca turned around and hissed at Marian coldly, causing her to jerk a little. She then returned to examining the objects in the room. Carefully, she took a look at every book, every statuette, every picture... Really. _The _symbol. Everywhere. It was altered a little, but it was still _the _symbol and it was on literally half of the things in this room, from the books to the blankets to the decorative ornaments...

Apparently, _he _had been right with what he had claimed about this island... But had he also been right with the other thing he claimed? She doubted it immensely and her doubts seemed to be correct. Nothing here pointed towards this suspicion to be true. Realizing this, Luca chuckled a little to herself. She had known it. After all, this was just a tiny, secluded island in the middle of nowhere. Even if they happened to still have certain knowledge of the truth about the legends, there was just no way that here...

...Well, at least she'd found some interesting books. This was a quite neat exploit for such a small, boring island. And her men probably also had found themselves some interesting stuff by now. Probably it was time to call everybody back and reboard the ship.

Sealing off her bag, Luca turned around to Marian again and realized that she was still cuddling her crying baby like a doll. Luca hit her face with the palm of her hand when she saw this. "Oh my, can't you do anything right? You're going to suffocate the kid like this! Ah..."

"Huh...Uhm..." Marian realized that Luca was approaching her and broke out into cold sweat. What was this woman going to do now...? "N-No..." she whispered. "Stay away... Stay away..."

"Ah, calm down, you hear me? I just can't watch you doing everything wrong, wrong, wrong! Now, if you let me lend you a hand, I'll show you, how..."

"S-Stay away!" Marian repeated, shielding her baby with her arms, as Luca shook her head and sighed, annoyed. An incompetent father _and_ an incompetent mother. Oh boy, she actually felt sorry for their poor kid. Once again, she let her face sink into the palm of her hand... When she took it off again, she was dazzled by a light.

"Huh?" Surprised, both Luca and Marian looked around disoriented for a moment, until Luca realized that the shine was coming... from her own pocket.

Her pocket? But this meant...

Shocked, she shook her head for a second. "N-No way..." She quickly reached into the pocket and moved her hand around in it, until she pulled out a small, golden amulet, which was shining in a radiance which probably rivaled that of the stars. Dumbstruck, Luca stared at it for a few second. "W-Why...? Because of what...?"

"MARIAN!"

Conis stormed into the room, armed with the leg of a chair, probably the one Luca had pushed him into. Goddesses knew how he managed to get it off, though. "_Get out of our house!"_ he hysterically screamed at Luca.

"_Shut up, you pushover!_" Luca replied in the very same tone, as if to mock him. She then immediately returned to staring at her amulet. "How can this be..."

She tried to think of all possible reasons... but she could only come up with one...

When had this amulet reacted like this before? Just once... a single time before... The day she had added the second part to it... the day, on which—

Luca set her eyes on the baby in Marian's arms. "No... that's not possible... is it?"

Marian backed off a few inches, scared. "L-Leave him alone..."

"Get away from her! Yaaaarrrrgh!" Conis charged for Luca once again, but she just took her cutlass and cut the wood in his hands into tiny pieces, without even really looking at what she was doing.

"What a nuisance..." she whispered, annoyed, while Conis was staring at the remains of his 'weapon.' The amulet still in her hands, Luca continued to come closer to Marian, who continued to back off from her, until she was sitting with her back right to the wall. Horrified at what may follow now, Marian just closed her eyes and prayed. The crying of her child in her ears, she felt helpless... could she really do nothing but pray for her child's safety? She wished she could protect him better than this...

Despite Marian's struggling to keep Luca away, she finally managed to get a hold of the child, removing the sheets it was wrapped in.

"Leave him alone!" Marian shouted. "I beg you, take all we have, but leave him alone!"

But Luca ignored her. She looked at the baby's face for a moment before she took its left arm... raised it up and...

Nothing. The back of the hand was empty.

Luca frowned. She tried again, this time with the right hand. Still nothing.

"Hm..." So had the amulet not been reacting to the child after all...? No, wait—Luca noticed that the amulet was shining even brighter than before now... It _had_ to be because of the child. It just had to. Yet...

...Maybe if she tried this way...?

Luca took the child's left hand again, causing Marian to shriek once more. Both she and Conis could only watch, knowing that this woman, this armed woman, could do anything she pleased at the moment. There was nothing they could have done to stop her.

Luca took the amulet by its string and carefully lifted it above the child... it shone even brighter, yet, no other reaction. Why? She lowered it a little... a little more... a little more... it was now barely two inches above the child's hand.

And this was, when, finally, something happened.

"Huh?" Luca's hand twitched a little, causing the amulet to shake, when she saw how, faintly, yet present, a light appeared on the child's hand... _That _symbol...?

Nope... It was too faint to even have a distinct shape. A mere, light glow, not more. Still... there was definitely something. A smile slowly appeared on Luca's face, as she, just to be sure, lowered the amulet a little more...

The child suddenly fell silent. A second light flashed up out of nowhere, from the child's hand... Luca reached for this light as it took shape... Marian and Conis watched in disbelief, as a single, tiny shard of gold appeared floating above Luca's hand... Like in trance, she took it, looking at it, while its radiance grew fainter. Finally she seemed to snap out of it again and her eyes grew a little bigger in surprise.

"...That's it?" In disbelief, she raised the shard in the air and stared at it. "Just this pathetic, little fragment...? Where's the rest?"

Visibly confused, Luca returned the child back to its mother, while keeping the golden shard in her hand. For a few moments, Luca only turned the shard around and back in the light of the candles in the room, looking at it like she believed this to be a stupid joke. Finally, she just enclosed the shard in her fist and closed her eyes. "Ah... Who cares? All that matter is that it's there. That's proof enough..."

"W-What is happening?"

Finally, Marian, once again cuddling her child, had found her voice again. "What was this light just now? This amulet? This shard...?"

"Heheheh... Now I wonder..." Luca turned towards Marian again and also looked at Conis for a moment, before she asked, "What is this child's name?"

Marian hesitated to speak, but finally, she took a breath and answered, "He... His name is Link..."

"An unusual name..." she answered, but yet seemed not to be surprised. "I don't suppose you found it in some baby-naming book, did you?"

Marian lowered her head. "We... We just called him that... We don't know why... We just did."

"Of course you did," Luca answered with a faint grin. "I still can't believe this... I mean... Here, of all places? Ah, I guess even the gods can't be picky some times..."

"G-Gods?" Conis approached Luca nervously. "What are you talking about? Who do you even think you are?"

Hearing this, Luca laughed. "Who I think I am?... Heheh..."

Luca turned towards Conis, as her expression changed completely. Standing as upright as she could (which made her look even more imposing), she stated in a calm voice:

"My name is Lucretia Zelda Hyrule. Descendant of Princess Zelda of the lost Kingdom of Legends, Hyrule."

"...Princess?" Disbelieving, Marian gazed at Luca, before Luca continued with a slightly melancholic expression and a harder tone in her voice.

"But I'm not actually worthy of the name... Ah, whatever...Just call me Luca, alright?"

"Not worthy...? What do you..." Conis shook his head a few times, before he exclaimed, slightly enraged, "Listen, I don't care if your suffering from some delusion of being royalty or something, I just want to know what this all had to do with our child! Answer me!"

"So you really have no idea?" Luca smiled. "Well, I guess you don't... I mean, I can barely believe it myself... hm..."

She turned her back at the couple and wandered a little across the room. "Yes, indeed unbelievable... Hundreds of years, they have searched... everywhere, any place they could find... and now, I, of all people, find him here in a place like this... The Hero of Time."

"The...what?"

Conis gave Luca a look as if he had just officially declared her crazy, while Marian's eyes made it obvious that she was guessing herself to be in some kind of dream right now. Luca, however, fumbled with the golden shard, as she explained. "Do you see this? I got this out of your little boy just now. This is a shard of a relic from a legend, my mother used to tell me, when I was a little girl... A piece of the Triforce of the Goddesses." She turned towards the two parents just to see their shocked faces. They slightly amused her. "Living here, I guess you know about the Legend of the Hero of Time, don't you? Well, the Triforce is the Power of the Gods mentioned in this legend... Also, there is something else about it, which you probably don't know." She changed the tone in her voice. "The legend, as I know it, also tells the following: Not only had the evil, which seized the ancient kingdom, possessed a piece of this power... The Princess and The Hero of Time had as well. Because they were its chosen guardians and bearers... 'The ones chosen by fate', as they are called in the ancient scripts sometimes. Marked by the symbol of the golden relic, they are the ones who will be entrusted with its fragments whenever they need to be kept safe."

"I don't see any symbol," Conis hissed. "So how do you come to assume that—"

She didn't even let him finish his sentence. "How else could he have this?" She presented the shard again. "Given, it is just small, but he must have been born with it. There is no other way how he could have come into it's possession. Still..." She once again took a closer look at the shard. "I have to admit that this is not quite what I imagined... Just what happened to the rest...and why didn't he have the mark...?" The last two sentences where more mumbled than outright spoken. After a few more steps, she suddenly just turned back at the couple and grinned.

"Ah, whatever. It doesn't matter much, I guess. It's just good I removed this before _he _had any chance to track the little guy down."

"He...?" Marian apparently had questions, but didn't dare to ask. She was utterly confused by the events. And Conis didn't seem to feel any better. Unlike his wife, however, he actually managed to speak.

"...The Hero of Time... Why should we believe you?"

"Why should you _not _believe me?" Luca countered with a calm smile.

"Assuming, you say the truth..." Marian got down from the bed and stepped towards Luca. "What would this mean for our boy...?"

Luca nodded, as if she had been waiting for this question. She answered with a serious tone, "For now, nothing. You can raise him normally, as if nothing happened... But..." She paused. "You should be prepared for the day that he has to leave."

"Leave...?" Once again it was Marian who had repeated the word. Apparently she tried to make sure that she didn't mishear anything.

"You probably don't know this, but, from what I know... that _evil _from the legend is still around."

"It is?" Conis asked in surprise and Luca nodded.

"Probably." She turned around again. "One day, this boy will have to go out and end what was started by the legendary Hero almost a thousand years ago... Hm, how to best express this... In any case, he will surely end up as a better warrior than his daddy here."

"Argh..." As much as Conis had, sadly, to agree with this woman on term of his skills, her words only made him dislike her more and more with every passing second.

"Yeah... maybe even the best swordfighter the world has seen in a long time..." Luca turned around again. "Let's just say, one day your kid will be the world's trump card."

"No!"

This time, Luca was the one who jerked. Mainly because Marian's voice had reached such a high pitch with this "No" that it almost broke through Luca's eardrums.

"You mean he will have to fight? What if he gets hurt? What if he dies? I...I won't let that happen!" Marian shouted.

"Ahh... Oh my...Mama Bear is on the loose..." Luca shook her head. "Now... listen to me. All I told you just now? To be honest, I have no clue how much of it is actually true. But I am sure that this child has something to do with the hero..." She sighed. "Believe me, I don't want an innocent child to get involved either, but it's not like we have much of a choice. It's either just him, or everybody in the world... He will have to be the one who slays the monster."

"No!" Marian repeated. "He... He won't! I won't allow it! I..." She started crying and softly rocking the child in her arms. "...Don't worry, deary... Mommy won't allow this... Mommy won't let you get hurt... I'm here... I won't let anyone hurt you... Mommy will..."

"Argh!" Luca apparently couldn't take Marian's stubborn behavior. "'Mommy' will receive a soon and much deserved end, if she thinks she could go against fate!If the gods have decided, they will have their way, no matter what you think you could do against it, you hear me?"

"Stop talking to her like that!" Conis went in-between the women and glared at Luca. "_You, _of all people, have no right to tell anybody what is right to do and what is not, _pirate!"_

"Listen to me!" Luca had now completely dropped her insultingly cheeky attitude from before and stared at them with a serious look. "I understand why you feel this way! Believe me, I understand it probably better than anybody else... But there is nothing we can do against it! We should be thankful that a child like this was even born! The legends make it clear that the Hero is the only one who can go against the one who destroyed the kingdom... If this person is allowed to roam freely... everybody... everything... will one day perish under this person's rule. This includes your little boy too."

"But I don't want him to... I..." Marian held the child as tightly as she could, just like she was fearing he would slip out of her arms any moment. "I want him to grow up to be happy...to lead a peaceful live and... never have a reason to be afraid... never be hurt..."

"What parent doesn't wish this...?" Luca sighed.

Conis turned towards her. "But... what if there is no need for a 'hero' to show up after all?" he asked. "Couldn't we just try to... to do it ourselves?"

"Ha..." Luca looked at him in a mocking manner. "You? That's a joke, right?"

But Conis' expression didn't change. "I didn't say _me. _I said _us._ Together. Why should we rely on our children to clean up the mess we leave for them? This sounds everything but right."

"It's not like we caused this mess either," Luca countered.

"But if we do it, at least they wouldn't have to do it! We could at least protect them!"

"Why are you talking about _them_?"

"I'm not stupid, you know... I heard it in your voice before... That you too..."

"..."

"Why shouldn't we try to handle it ourselves? For our children's sake?"

Luca closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Because we can't."

"Why?"

After this word, Luca dropped her bag with all the things she had taken. The books she had stuffed into it now spilled out of it to the floor. The pirate woman turned towards the door and took a step.

"Because... that's fate."

Luca didn't even turn back again one last time. She just opened the door and left.

Silence reigned before Marian started sobbing again. Meanwhile, Conis just sat there... dumbstruck. After a few seconds, he opened his mouth:

"Mother...?"

"...Conis..." An elderly woman crawled out from under the table on the side of the room. She had been hiding there all along. Now she approached her son slowly. "I..." She paused. "I don't know what to say..."

Conis just closed his eyes, listening to his wife's sobbing. "...The tradition... what is it for, mother?"

"..."

"...I always thought of it as a game... And it was a fun game for me to play when it was my turn. And I never thought about it too much. Not about the meaning behind it." He opened his eyes. "I wanted it to be a fun game for him too...I seriously... didn't want it to have a meaning for him either..." He looked up. "Excuse me... I need to take a walk..."

"Huh!" Marian jerked. "But those pirates are still outside!"

"Don't worry..." He turned towards her. "I have a feeling they won't attack me..."

Conis went outside, carefully opening and closing the two doors behind him and the house's exterior. He didn't want to make too much sound... He went down to the beach. It was probably near midnight now and since the sky was cloudless, the stars shone at their brightest. Conis took a look around. He walked along the beach and finally saw it: the pirate's ship... Just as he had expected, it was still there. Setting sails, after all, took some time, especially with the crew spread all over the island. Quietly, Conis went over to a rather huge boulder near the place the ship anchored and sat down. So... actually... what was he doing here?

He felt the strong desire to ask this woman more questions... But he couldn't come up with a single question they hadn't already asked. Maybe he really only wanted to beat her up for what she just told them... then again, if it was the truth, it was not her fault after all.

Then again, he didn't even get what she had told them. Not in the slightest. He took a deep breath. The hero of time was a legend. The hero of time probably never even existed... right? And even if...

...His son? This was just hilarious... He actually chuckled to himself at the thought. Not because the situation was funny, but because it involved him. Him, who had been a walking catastrophe his whole life along. Like the black cat, who brings misfortune when you cross its path. Every move, every decision he had made to this day had in some way eventually wound up to cause a disaster of some kind for him or the others... Except marrying Marian.

...No, not even that. Marian was crying right now because their child was in danger.

...That was probably his fault too, right? Surely it was because of him that Marian was crying. Surely it was because of him, that their son would...

Yeah, he had always had nothing but bad luck in his life. Bad luck, dumb ideas, clumsiness and a horrible way with words. A walking catastrophe, indeed. In fact, he will probably also make a horrible father. Seen like this, the events of today, too, made sense in context...

...He would have to remember to write this all down into his journal, once he got back home...

So, what exactly was he doing here now, sitting behind a rock near a pirate's ship? Did he really want to speak to this person again? What would it change? Also, maybe she was wrong anyway. Yes, maybe she was just a crazy, loony idiot or thought it was funny to make up stories to make her victims panic. Maybe she enjoyed seeing them cry in shock... she made Marian cry after all.

Maybe he should just go. Yeah, he should probably just go. And he was just about to go... when he heard voices...

"So, have you gone to where I asked you to go to?"

"Yes. I have."

The first one was male... a rather deep, raspy voice... and it sounded somewhat sophisticated.

The second voice was Luca.

Conis carefully turned around... and peeked out from behind the boulder. In the pale moonlight, he saw her, the pirate who had just paid them visit, standing on the railing of her ship, staring down into the water—no, actually...

Actually, she was looking at something floating next to her ship. A boat with... no passengers? But who did that deep voice belong to then? Conis listened closely and watched carefully...

"And... what did you find?" the deep voice asked Luca with a certain excitement.

Conis was confused... he could not see anybody who the voice could belong to... Was there... some kind of ghost in this unmanned boat?

...Given what Luca had just told them, this was everything but unlikely.

Luca chuckled for a moment, before she stated, "Just a young couple with a child. The father's clumsy and a weakling, the mother's a crybaby and stubborn. Nothing too special."

"And... the child?"

"It's a boy," Luca answered and the teasing tone, once again, had disappeared from her voice for a short moment.

"Aha... In that case... did you do as I asked you...?"

For a short moment, there was a silence. Finally, Luca laughed again. "Well... sorry to disappoint you, but you were wrong. He didn't have the mark... There... wasn't anything else notable about him either."

"...I see..." The voice let out a loud, disappointed sigh... maybe even a little desperate. "So _her _assumptions were wrong after all... Seems like this world had lost the chosen hero for good after all... Now all we can do is pray..."

"You keep talking of _her,_" Luca stated. "Who is she?"

Conis couldn't help but gasp at what happened now... The boat in the water actually raised its head. The boat... was it possessed?

Conis could see that its eyes were moving... The reflected moonlight was enough to assure him of that... Or... was the moonlight maybe just playing tricks on _his _eyes? No... Actually, he was rather sure that was he thought he was seeing was correct. He just couldn't quite believe it.

The boat silently looked up at Luca for a few seconds, before the voice replied, "...Somebody, whose eyes I will probably never see again..."

"And you were hoping to see those eyes in mine, right?"

Luca waited for a response, but the voice remained silent. Finally, she said mockingly, "I am sorry that I do not meet your expectations. Believe me, I know perfectly well that I am not what... or, rather, _who_ you expected me to be."

The boat's head lowered again. "It seems like not only the hero was lost...The ancient order is apparently broken..."

"What if we don't need them? The hero or that person, who I'm not? Or this ancient order? " Luca asked. "What if we just forget whatever was before... and create new rules for our future?"

Conis blinked in surprise, as he heard Luca say this...

The deep voice sighed again. "There are things, which are not meant to change..."

"How would you know?"

"..."

They remained silent for a few seconds, until a scream suddenly pierced the air. It was a baby's cry. Conis was about to jump up and run back home... when he noticed that the crying was too close to be Link. And also, the voice sounded different.

"Ahh..." Luca sighed. "Again..."

In surprise, the deep voice asked a question. "So there is an infant on your shi—"

"One of my crew's," Luca quickly cut him short and shrugged. "It's causing problems now or then, but I can't just force them to abandon it, can I? That would be inhumanly cruel. I am a pirate, not a monster."

"I see..."

"MISS!" a young boy's voice called from inside the ship. "She won't stop, she won't stop! Help!"

More voices joined in soon.

"PSSST, you idiot, if we can't handle this on our own, she'll—"

"Who's stupid idea was it to leave Niko with the baby anyway?"

"Gonzo's! Because he said I was too small to help you outside!"

"Well, he is!

"You know, entrusting some five-year-old swabby with a baby is not exactly a smart thing to do..."

"I am six! And you are not much older!"

"Well, I hardly could have taken her out to the island, could I? What would that have looked like, a pirate with a baby!"

"Not to mention that the Miss would have let you walk the plank if you did."

"She'll let him walk the plank for this as well! You can't just entrust Niko with caring about the girl!"

"What? He has to be of use for something!"

"Why does nobody ever take me seriously? I have plenty of use! Just wait! One day, I will rank above all of you and you all will be my loyal swabbies! I mean it!"

"Yeah, the same day you turn a hundred."

"Rather, a hundred ten..."

"Argh! She's still crying! Somebody, make her stop!"

"Maybe she needs a new diaper?"

"Or milk!"

"But for milk, we would have to get the Miss and..."

"... Guys... she is out there... and heard everything..."

Luca glared rather angrily at the small boy, who was peeking out of the door to the underdeck, before he quickly pulled back his head and closed the door.

"Ah...oh my..." Luca let her head sink into the palms of her hands and sighed, "Why am I surrounded by idiots...? Well, excuse me now... I have to save that poor baby..."

"Judging from how they spoke, it sounded like that baby was actually yours."

Luca jerked, when she heard the deep voice say that. But then she chuckled, "Well, I'm the only woman on board! Of course it's me who mostly cares about the baby! Could you imagine any of those guys you heard in there just now taking responsibility of a child?"

"...I cannot argue with this statement."

"Exactly. Well... would you please leave now? I am not too keen on having those guys see me talking to a boat."

"...I understand... I will leave right away. Excuse me for wasting your time."

Conis watched the small boat leaving. It wasn't moving very fast, but still fast enough to soon be out on the open sea. It was pretty much around that time that Luca turned around and apparently wanted to head for the underdeck. There was no need to, however, as the door already swung open and four young men and two boys came outside. One of them was holding a baby wrapped in sheets. It was crying like somebody had just tried to kill it.

"Miss! Please help us!" one of them shouted. "We can't get her to stop crying!"

Luca put her hand to her forehead. "You guys are so hopeless, you know that, right? For the great goddesses' sake, give her to me!" She took the baby from the man and started to rock her a little bit in her arms. "Aww... stop crying now. It's alright, I'm back. And I am sorry for leaving you with those guys. I should have known that they would do everything wrong. Men never understand us, you know? That's because men hardly ever get anything right without us!"

None of the men on board even dared to object to what she said. In any case, the baby girl had stopped crying the instant she had started to talk to her. Conis was, in fact, even rather sure that he could hear the baby laugh at what Luca said.

There was a short pause, until Luca turned towards the men, who were still standing behind her. "What are you waiting for? Everybody, get back to work! We have to get moving if we want to be at Windfall by tomorrow!"

Her command worked like a miracle, and immediately everybody hurried to get back to where they were supposed to be. Luca sighed and looked at the baby. "You see what I mean? Without me, they would be lost. ...Oh yeah, you will have to take over for me one day. Sorry for that in advance."

The baby girl once again laughed, as if she was actually looking forward to it. Luca herself had to laugh a moment as well when she heard her daughter do it.

"Hm... There's still time till then, I guess. ...Don't worry, I will look out for you as good as I can until then. You won't have to put up with their treatment too often, I promise. Heheh..."

She gazed down to the water, watching the ripples a few seconds long. Then, she reached into her pocket and took a look around. Conis quickly pulled his head back, so she wouldn't notice him. She then pulled her closed fist out of the pocket and reached it out, over the reeling.

"King of Red Lions..." she said with closed eyes, just to open them a second later and continue. "I don't trust you." She opened her fist above the water and a tiny object, which Conis recognized as the golden shard from before, fell out of it and slowly sunk into the dark water...

She took a look at her daughter. "...And I won't let you have her... no... them. Not as long as I live."

She watched the shard disappearing beneath the surface and remained in her position for a few moments, before she turned around and shouted, "Is everybody ready yet! No? Gee, could you be any slower? You can't be serious! We should have been gone fifteen minutes ago!..."

She continued to shout as she left the railing, and Conis watched the ship leave Outset Island, heading for Windfall.

_...And I still don't know what to think..._

_...If my mind would just allow me to sleep..._

* * *

Silently, Link continued looking at the page for some time...

So Grandma had known it. All along. And they knew Tetra's mother... Tetra... Link looked over to her. She seemed rather absentminded right now. Maybe he shouldn't have read this all out aloud? But how should he have known who this woman in the entry would wind up to be?

Grandmother spoke now. "Marian... it was her wish that you wouldn't be taught swordplay. But, of course, that didn't keep Orca from teaching you regardless. I, too, was afraid that there might be something true about that woman's story... but tried to deny it as much as I could. All of us three wished for you to grow up happily... But I guess, in the end there was nothing we could do. And when the day you actually left came, I felt guilty for denying you preparation all the time along. Instead of helping you, I just made everything worse... I am sorry."

"So... you didn't let me go to the attic because you didn't want me to realize that you knew about everything all along?" he asked carefully.

She nodded. "But in the beginning, it was a measure to keep everything related to the legend away from you... well, of course I couldn't deny you the celebration of the twelfth birthday. Your father wouldn't have wanted that... Even though your mother would have. They once even argued about this...and went on all night. But, when it was up to me in the end, I eventually decided that without the swordplay this was innocent enough to not cause any harm...Besides, I, too, wanted to see you in those clothes."

Link laughed when his grandma said that and smiled.

She continued, "Link... even though your parents wished for a different life for you, I am sure they would be proud of you if they could see you now. Because, even though they always were afraid of losing you, they also knew that you are a very strong boy. They believed in you, Link. And... I believe in you too. That's why I know that, whatever may come now, you will get through it safely."

"Yes! We all believe in you, Big Brother!" Aryll agreed with a big nod. "Nothing could get you down! I am sure!"

"Heheh..." Surrounded by so many people who put their trust in him, Link smiled and even blushed a little. "Everybody... thank you!"

"Alright, everybody believes in Link, we got that down now!" Tetra stated with a wink. "And now that we got that out of the way, shouldn't we turn towards presently more important things again?"

"Oh, the box! I almost forgot!" Link exclaimed, surprised, before Toki calmed him down.

"Don't worry, I got it right here..." He took it out and tried to take off the cover. The key word being 'tried.'

"Argh... It won't open!" He took a closer look at it. "There isn't a keyhole either... Weird box."

"Yeah, no keyhole... But take a look at this." Tetra pointed at the Triforce Symbol on the cover. "Only two of the pieces are golden on this... the third is bronze."

"Yeah, you're right..." Kaze noticed. "Does that mean something?"

"Hmm." Toki thought about it a moment. "Maybe you need two pieces of the Triforce to open it?"

"But that would make it almost impossible to open!" Kaze stated, only to get an annoyed sigh by Tetra.

"That's the whole purpose of a lock, Link. Also... a perfectly good way to seal it, if only the two of us are supposed to get this open!"

Kaze argued, "According to, Princess Zelda, nobody knew if I would even be born!"

"But she was pretty sure you would!" Tetra stated. "Triforce or not, I'm rather sure that the lock on this was designed to make sure that only we two together can open it!

"So... Probably if we both put our hands onto it the same time..." Kaze guessed and Tetra nodded. "Let's try it out."

Link put his left hand on the cover of the box, Tetra her right. This moment, the box lit up brightly. They smiled triumphantly as they saw the cover opening a little bit...just to have it snap back in position a second later. Their faces fell.

"Uhm... What happened?" Kaze asked.

"That thing... rejected us, I think..." Tetra stated, slightly surprised.

"Aha... What now?" Kaze turned towards Tetra. She just shrugged. The three of them lowered their heads for a second... before Toki eventually came up with something:

"I got it!"

He snapped his fingers. The other's turned their attention towards him, as he explained, "At the moment, I am pretty much one half of his existence, right? So I probably have to put my hand on this too!"

"Yeah... that makes sense..." Kaze nodded, turning towards Tetra. "Should we try it again?"

She shrugged. "Sure. It can't do any harm."

The three of them nodded at each other. They took the box... and placed their hands on it.

_-Note_

_Backstory-gasm! _

_Oh yeah, I dared to do the unthinkable: Not only did I give Link parents, I gave him parents with identities! …Yeah, actually not a too big feat._

_I mostly did it because he can hardly have popped into existence all by himself, can he? Tetra too, by the way._

_Ah, Tetra's Mommy… I guess all of you have seen this famous painting yet, haven't you? The one showing her mother in her cabin in The Wind Waker? Yes, that one. I decided to give her a role… not to mention a __**name**__._

_The name "Luca" is a reference to the "City of Luca", a port-town in Final Fantasy X. This name was actually a spontaneous decision of mine when I first saw that portrait of her in the game. I had to think of the City of Luca for some reason. Don't ask me why, I just thought of it. I also found the name's sound to be somewhat similar to that of "Tetra", so I just stuck with calling the woman on the portrait "Luca". _

_By the way, the Background-Theme for aforementioned FFX port-town is awesome and if I was in need to choose a character theme-melody for Tetra's Mommy here, I would probably go with this BGM._

_Luca's "first name", Lucretia, was only chosen by me for its "aristocratic" sound, which went well with "Zelda" and because "Luca" can be derived from it, but it's not meant to allude to the mythological Lucretia or Lucretia Crescent from Final Fantasy VII (One Final Fantasy Reference per 30 chapters or so is more than enough…)_

_It should be obvious that Luca's amulet is the incomplete Triforce of Wisdom. The whole deal with the Triforce Shard is mostly meant to clear up why the King of Red Lions was so sure Link had no connection to the "Legendary one", why he had suspicions about Tetra so soon, as well as how one of the scattered Triforce Shards ended up so ridiculously close to Outset Island. As for why there was still a Triforce Chart leading to it, when it supposedly only got there recently, uhm… The Triforce Charts are magic. That simple._

_Did you ever notice how casually Link's grandma assumed that Link was searching for the family shield when he was preparing to leave? I don't know, her mannerisms and everything… just always gave me the feeling that Link leaving didn't strike her as a surprise. But maybe that's just me. _

_The next chapter returns to the main plot. Promise. _


	34. Nayru of Labrynna

Chapter 33: 

Nayru of Labrynna

It was calm.

Not silent. Just… peaceful and comforting. Tender rays of sunlight fell through the tree branches and the sound of the leaves softly moving in the breeze was accompanied by a simple, yet touching melody, a music which seemed to defy the law of time and make every single moment a pleasant eternity. What kind of place was this? Such a beautiful scenario…

Where were they?

In the center of the small glade in the forest, on the stump of tree, a young woman with long, blue hair and clothes made of silk sat. She was the origin of the soft music which filled the air: Playing the harp in her arms, she sung the calm melody and didn't appear to get out of breath or tired. They hadn't known that her singing was in fact the music they were hearing right away; this was, because her voice was so clear, so incredibly clear, it was hard to believe that it was supposed to be human. Concentrated and relaxed her voice was absolutely on-tune with her harp's melody, as she was being listened by the creatures of the forest around her; animals as well as plant beings and fairies of all kind. The woman's voice's sound was closer to what one would expect the voice of a sacred spirit to be like… Was that what she truly was? A sacred spirit? It seemed not too far fetched…

…She looked a tiny little bit like Princess Zelda. They couldn't quite pinpoint why, though. Maybe it was this mysterious, knowing atmosphere which she had. Or just this content smile. It was hard to say…

Carefully, yet curiously, the boys took a few steps towards the woman. She turned her head to them, without interrupting her song. And smiled. With this smile, she stopped singing for a moment, but kept playing the melody on her harp.

"Welcome… I was already wondering when you would arrive."

The boys look at her puzzled. Who was she? And what was this place?

The woman now slowly rose from her seat and took a first step into the boys' direction, playing her harp as if she was still singing….

How did they get here…?

…Just a few minutes ago, they had still been—

* * *

"A musical score! Just as expected!"

Tetra presented the roll of parchment she had pulled out of the small box with the symbol of cycles to the boys. "A~nd look! They were even nice enough to put tact-instructions in there! Couldn't be easier for the two of you, could it?"

She put the score down on the table and gave her friend to her right a commanding look. "Well, what are you waiting for, Mr. Conductor? Conduct!"

Toki and Kaze were already 'armed' with their Ocarina and Baton, yet didn't do what Tetra said right away. They first exchanged a kind of look, which seemed to indicate that they meant to point something out but weren't quite sure if they should. Finally, Kaze just took a short breath and explained, "Tetra… there are lyrics written under the score, aren't there?" He glanced at the pergament and eyed the symbols, which had no meaning for him, in a skeptical manner.

"Yeah? So what?" Tetra asked, slightly annoyed.

It was Toki who now sighed and said, "If there are lyrics, it probably means that the song is meant to be sung… and since the box was apparently designed in the way that would only allow it to be opened if both, me and Zelda are present, this would mean-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No way! Hold it right here!" The surprised, averting gestures Tetra made upon realizing what the guy to her left was talking about seemed really overdone, as if she was trying to defend herself from something. "Forget it!" she said. "I am _not _going to sing!"

"Tetra, if the song is meant to be sung, we probably should—"

"You sing it then!" Tetra interrupted Kaze. "It's not like you have any pride to lose!"

"H-Hey!"

Toki rolled his eyes. "…You know, aside from me being convinced that he probably has an awful singing voice_—I know I have—_he can't read Hylian."

Hearing him state this, Tetra turned towards Toki. "Then you—"

"And singing while playing the Ocarina is… kinda impossible, to be honest."

"Argh…"

Tetra crossed her arms and looked away, seemingly infuriated, just like somebody had just called her the most offending word there was in the world. Kaze tried to look her in the eyes regardless. "I don't get it. Why don't you want to, Tetra? I heard you sing before. You've got a nice singing voice!"

"And you are obviously deaf," Tetra claimed, while her face was growing red and redder with every passing second. "My singing voice is horrible! What do you think why I only sing when nobody should be listening?... Emphasis on 'should'." She then gave Link a death-glare, indicating that she probably did not agree with the few times she caught him listening to her singing the lullaby on the railing.

Kaze then backed off a little and turned his head away. "…I still think you're singing voice is nice…" he whispered, before looking up and at her again. "Look, Tetra, I would do it myself if I could read this stuff, but I can't! Sorry, but we don't have a choice."

"Hmpf…" Tetra couldn't even argue with him about this, since he was obviously right and this fact bugged her immensely. She let go of the tension she had already built up in order to fight back, and sighed "Alright… but just this once… let me read."

She took the parchment from Kaze and read through the lyrics. The expression on her face while doing so made it apparent, that the words weren't exactly to her liking, but she didn't bother to restart the argument and just put the sheet down with the words. "Alright, guys. Let's get this over with…"

Aryll and Grandma silently watched from the other side of the table, as their brother and Grandson got up from his chair and got into position. He looked at Toki. "Did you ever play according to a conductor before?"

Toki smiled. "Not really… But I think I'm gonna be alright. I just have to follow your rhythm and your cues, right?"

Kaze nodded, both to show that this was pretty much it and that he was ready. He closed his eyes a moment, remembered the instructions on the sheet, and then he started conducting.

The moment he raised his baton, both the sound of Toki's Ocarina, as well as Tetra's voice started sounding through the room. The melody had started.

It was a soft, somewhat magical tune…and Tetra had, naturally, been completely wrong with what she had claimed about her voice. In fact, it fit the melody perfectly… soft and calm. The third note Toki played wavered a little bit, surprising Kaze and almost causing him to unwittingly change the rhythm. It took him a few second to realize that Toki was apparently surprised by Tetra's voice… He was staring at her in a way that pretty outright stated 'Are you serious?' But after this, they made no further mistakes and played the tender melody on… right until…

…It seemed like the singing voice was changing… growing even more beautiful…

And suddenly, Kaze became aware… that something had changed…

* * *

…In fact, everything around him had changed. And he couldn't even say when exactly it had changed. It was a little bit… like the transition between segments of a dream.

But Toki was still there. Tetra, however, was absent, as well as his grandma and Aryll. The only other human nearby was the songstress with the long, blue hair and the sky-blue eyes. Standing in the middle of the glade, holding her harp, smiling. She had stopped playing the song now, which, incidentally was the same one Tetra had sung just a few minutes back. But even though she had stopped singing and playing, the boys still felt like hearing the melody in the air.

Again, what was this place?

The woman smiled softly at the boys. With a subtle gesture and in a kind voice, she stated:

"I knew you would come… I, once again, welcome you to Labrynna, young hero."

"Labrynna…?" Kaze repeated confused. 'Hero'? Just singular? Why was she referring to just one person. She couldn't be aware of their nature… could she?

Toki took a step forward. "Excuse me… but who are you?"

The woman just turned around and showed them a direction with a short gesture. "Standing is too uncomfortable to discuss such a matter… please, follow me…"

As she went away through the forest, her long hair moved lightly with each of her steps. There was no denying… everything about this woman was elegant and mysterious.

But 'mysterious' also meant 'unknown'. And that is what this woman was to the boys. They looked at each other, clueless. Should they really follow her? After all, they had no idea where she would lead them. In the end, however, they decided to do as the songstresshad said and followed her on the way through the woods, but not without staying careful and alert.

Not too long after, they arrived at a small wooden cottage at a crossroad. The woman opened the door and offered them to come in. They nodded agreeing and entered the house. Greeted by the sound of a warm, burning fire, the boys took their first few steps inside the home of the woman, before she went up to the table and smiled with yet another subtle gesture. "Please sit down. Would you like some tea?"

The boys didn't really answer as they took their places on the chairs by the table, yet the woman prepared three cups and filled each of them with hot water, adding the herbs right afterwards. Then she passed the cups to them. Being a little nervous, Kaze already wanted to take a sip, when the woman said, "Wait, not so hastily. It is still too hot. Take your time, please…"

"But… we don't have any!" Toki suddenly stated, finally breaking the silence of the two of them. "Excuse me if I sound offending, but we have to hurry! Otherwise…"

The woman silenced him with just one simple gesture, but without losing her smile. "You have time, trust me…Don't be hasty… The minutes passing in this age won't affect the minutes passing in the age you came from. So, use this opportunity. Relax and recover your energy… You must be exhausted from your long battles."

She seemed to be aware of everything. And despite this, she seemed so calm and content, it was almost shocking…

It was only five minutes later, when the tea had already cooled down enough for the boys to drink, that Kaze, after a long sip, asked:

"Who… are you?"

The woman answered softly.

"My name is Nayru. I am the Oracle, who guards the ages…"

"N-Nayru..?" Toki almost spilled his tea. "You don't mean… As in… Nayru, goddess of wisdom and origin of all order?"

"Heheh…" The blue woman laughed and closed her eyes for a moment, which somehow managed to make her smile seem even more mysterious. "I was named for the goddess… and not without a reason. I and my two friends… we watch over the goddesses' creation and guard it in their name. We are their shrine maidens, their high priestesses… Their messengers, if you will. But don't assume that this makes me equal to the goddess." She looked up. "Except for the one night, one day from now… And this night is the reason you are here, am I correct?"

"We don't understand…" Kaze stated. "How did you even know we would come…?"

She moved her head a little. "As the Oracle of Ages, I know about the ages' flow. The days and minutes… And how they constantly change. Despite what you may think, destiny is not unchangeable. It sets certain paths which can be taken… but those are numerous and not even I can tell which one will ultimately be chosen… Especially not in a situation like this… Even the very existence of this moment isn't set yet. Yet you can visit it, because this visit was determined by fate and occurs with variations on every single of the paths. Such is the true nature of destiny… And the song, which brought you here, is a tool we use to lead destiny the right way… the way which will hopefully lead into a future ruled by light and peace, rather than into an age of darkness and destruction…"

She hit the strings of her harp once, as if to test if the sound was still as it was supposed to be. Then, she smiled and played the short tune one single time, without repetition and stated:

"This song has been passed down in my family for hundreds of generations. It is the song I use to keep the order of time intact… every day. But many years ago, this song left our bloodline for another purpose… just like the other two songs of the Oracles. They were passed on for the purpose to allow the Princess of Hyrule and her Protector to reach us in this age in the worst possible case…"

"The worst possible case? What do you mean?" Toki asked, although he already had an idea what the answer would be.

"The worst possible case is, that the order of the goddesses, which we are meant to protect, is being disturbed without us Oracles being present… we only appear in this world once every hundred years for one human lifetime, in order to stabilize the forces we are given control over. With us absent, however, there is always the risk of the order being attacked… and if such a thing happens in our absence, the only ones able to completely restore it are… the great goddesses themselves."

"The 'worst possible case' has happened!" Kaze stated excitedly. "The order of time and space has been damaged in our age and is about to fall apart! We thought you might be able to do something about it…"

"Hm…" Nayru took a sip of her tea and said, "There is one way to restore the order…"

"Please tell us then!"

"Stay calm. Don't be hasty."

Nayru raised her head. "One day from now, the constellation known as 'Sacred Delta' will stand exactly in the position it was in at the creation of this world… The very moment this happens, the sealed place in the sacred realm, where the Triforce originally rested… the spot through which the Goddesses left this world… will open up. And me and my 'sisters' will then be able to reach the goddesses themselves and direct a prayer to them, beg them for their power. If you manage to establish a connection to all three of us, we can send you the power you need to restore everything to how it is intended to be."

"And we do have to play all three of your songs to do this?" Toki asked. Nayru answered with a nod.

"Then, please, teach us the other two songs!"

"I can't do this…"

"Why?"

Nayru looked at Toki. "I am not allowed to. It is one of the many safety measures taken to make sure that the direct connection to the goddesses is not used by anyone other than us three or the Princess and her Protector… I couldn't tell you, even if I tried. I am sorry."

The boys frowned at this revelation.

"In fact, I wouldn't even be able to tell you what I am telling you right now, if this one night wasn't approaching…" Nayru explained. "Due to the stars returning to their origins, my powers are increasing with each moment and I gain knowledge I couldn't have had before… Some of it even the knowledge of the Goddesses herself…" She closed her eyes. "…But I still don't understand all of it. And what I understand yet…it is still too soon to tell you about this. One of my 'sisters' might, however, tell you later on."

She poured some more tea into everybody's cups… right before her smile wavered for the first time. She took a somewhat worried look at Toki.

"Hm?" He looked back at her. "Is something wrong?"

"It is strange…" she stated. "You are a corporal embodiment of a sealed set of memories… yet I sense…"

"You sense what?" Toki asked and Kaze listened in interest.

Nayru hesitated a moment, before she stated:

"A soul…"

Confused looks were the payment she got for this answer. She tried to explain:

"You two are sharing your life force… but not your soul… And I don't know how this is possible…Also, there is a certain imbalance, which I don't understand…"

"Can't you just take a look into the 'past' to see why that is?" Kaze asked.

She shook her head. "You come from an age before the '_Reunion_'… my clairvoyance on those ages is limited, even now."

"_Reunion_…?"

Nayru ignored Kaze's last word and once again played the tune on her harp one time, while she watched the boys drink a little more of the tea. She started smiling again. "Does it taste good?" she asked. The boys nodded. Nayru seemed to be satisfied by this. "Wonderful… I thought I might have gotten out of touch… I haven't brewed any tea ever since I was last visited by you… one of you, I mean. He, too, liked the taste back then."

Kaze looked curious. "So you know the 'us' of this age personally?"

She nodded.

So there was another 'them' running around in this world right now? A third one? A weird thought… three of them at once. What kind of person this 'he' might be?

Then, they wondered… how many years in the future were they anyway? They took a look around. Many objects in the house seemed unfamiliar and they had no idea what those things were supposed to do. Apparently, much time had passed…

Nayru examined the two of them in interest. "It is a strange feeling… to reencounter the boy who once saved me in two different forms. Yet I can feel the same strength as he had in both of you… yes…" She closed her eyes and nodded. "The hero of the legends is truly… someone very special."

"Well…" Kaze had blushed a little when she said this. "Me and 'legendary'… I dunno… Him, OK, but… well, barely anyone even knows that I ever did anything…"

"In this age, they know."

Surprised, Kaze looked up at her.

"They do?"

Nayru smiled reaffirmingly. "Here, the Hero of Wind's story is among the legends, as well as the story of the Hero of Time and those of many of the other Heroes who followed…"

"Wow… I can barely imagine that…People in hundreds of years still remembering me…?"

"The royal family of Hyrule always held the legends dear and never allowed even one of them to be lost."

The royal family…?

…Tetra.

Kaze closed his eyes and smiled. Yes, of course, that made sense. Tetra wouldn't forget him. Of course she would pass the story on. He should have thought of that right away…

Nayru's harp caused his attention to return to reality.

"The boy who once saved me…" she said, "was not allowed to hear those words. But since telling you will not change the flow of time, since you can't affect their content, I can say it…. She is still sleeping…"

"Huh?"

The boys looked up in confusion.

"She is still sleeping, this girl who you wish to protect, waiting for the old promise to be fulfilled. In this age, however, the time of her awakening isn't far anymore… only a few more years of time… Yet…" She looked up. "This age will never exist as it does now, if the way yours takes is disturbed. If just one thing changes too much, she might never awaken."

"…'Awaken'?" Toki asked. "What do you mean?"

Nayru didn't answer, but the mysterious smile on her lips somehow told them that she wasn't allowed to say more. So they let it be.

"Every decision you make…" Nayru finally said, "…influences the flow of time. Will this moment, as it now, even still exist once you leave, or will my words have changed you in a way, which also causes this very moment to change? Not even I can tell this. But what I can say is that it is up to you. Yes, you, Link… The power to determine a part of this world's fate was bestowed upon you. Since your decisions matter more than anyone else's decisions… Please use this power wisely…"

The boys listened closely and nodded, even though they didn't really understand what she meant. Did she realize that her words had barely any real meaning to them, or was she oblivious to this fact? It seemed more like the former was the case… Or maybe they would understand what she meant later on?

Again, she put her hand to the strings of her harp and played a few notes.

"This is the song, which brought you here… Its name is 'Aria of Truth.' It is the sacred, ceremonial tune of the goddess of wisdom. Along with the two songs my 'sisters' will teach you, they will allow you to reach us in the very hour when we will act as the media of the goddesses themselves to aid you in your task. But it will only work if you have this…"

She handed Kaze a small, blue pendant with the symbol of cycles on it.

"…and when the time is right."

"When will it be right?" Kaze asked, examining the small blue pendant on the necklace he received.

Nayru closed her eyes and slightly tilted her head to the side. "…Ralph is coming… It would surely unsettle him to see the boy from back then like this. You should go now."

"W-wait!" Kaze jumped up from his chair and took a step forward. "You mean, that's it? You didn't even tell us where to find the next melody! If you are really a messenger of the goddess of wisdom or something… you could at least give us a hint, you know!"

"A hint… hmm…"

Nayru kept smiling, as she seemed to ponder about think.

"I think one of the melodies was hidden by a dancer… A dancer who dedicated her life to praise the summer…"

"And where did this dancer live?"

"…"

Even though Nayru remained smiling, she didn't seem to have an answer. Was the knowledge of the messenger of the goddess of wisdom really that limited? The boys were slightly baffled. What was this 'Reunion' thing, which put such boundaries on her ability to see through time?

A knock on the door let her seemingly endless pondering finally come to an end.

"Nayru! I brought cake from the town!"

"Wait a moment! I will let you in, Ralph!" Nayru shouted towards the door. She then quickly turned back towards the boys. "The song which is held by the dancer was the one which was dedicated to the Goddess Din. I cannot tell you more. I am sorry."

"But… how are we supposed to find the place where this dancer hid it?" Toki asked.

The voice from the door sounded inside once again.

"Nayru, where are you? What is keeping you so long?"

Nayru turned towards the door, but looked at the boys again with a smile.

"In a few seconds, you will be back where you came from. Farewell."

Kaze objected, "N-No! Wait, you didn't answer my question!"

Words came through the wooden door.

"… Huh? Wasn't that Link's voice just now…? Nah, can't be, he's, like, a million miles away... Nayru! Come on, Nayru, please don't let me hang like this!"

Nayru laughed, "I'm coming!"

She quickly strummed her harp one time, before she ran to the door. Again, Kaze wanted to object… But he noticed how his voice seemed to have no sound. Not just that… The whole scenery around them had suddenly started to blur out with the sounds of the last notes she played on the harp.

Nayru opened the door for someone… this was the last thing they saw, before everything had finally faded out to white.

_Just one last thing, young hero. _

_Remember that even the goddesses' actions and decisions… even we can be flawed…_

…_we have to apologize... for your fate._

* * *

Hmm… nothing happened?

Tetra turned the sheet around, and examined it closely for everything they might eventually have missed, but was unsuccessful. "Ahh… maybe we got a note wrong or something… Let's try once more, guys… Guys?"

This was the moment she noticed that the two boys were staring at the air, absentminded.

"…Link?" she asked.

"Ah…" Aryll was nervously moving around. "Big Brother? Is something wrong with him…?"

Tetra just stared at the boys skeptically… Given, she knew Link was good at sleeping with his eyes wide open, but in a situation like this!And that other guy too? She tried to get their attention again.

"Guys?"

Still no response.

"Gu~ys! Hey!"

She kept snapping her fingers before their eyes, until the boys, all of a sudden, shrieked, startled, and backed off.

"Woah!"

Both pushed themselves away from the table, but Kaze apparently pushed stronger and ended up falling over, along with his chair. "Whaa—ouch!" Toki had watched him fall. After the sound of Kaze hitting the ground had passed, Toki finally bent down to him a little. "…Need a hand?" he asked and offered said hand, helping his friend to get up again.

When Kaze rose again from the ground, he was rubbing his head. "…Thanks…" he told Toki.

"Ah…" Tetra sighed loudly to make them focus their attention on her. She then rolled her eyes. "The world is ending… and you are _daydreaming. _You are unbelievable, Link."

"We weren't daydreaming!" Kaze quickly defended himself. "We were in another time and saw Nayru!"

"This, my friend, is called a 'hallucination'," Tetra stated, unimpressed. "Well, I hope for your sake that you have lots and lots of rupees to spare, because that's what the trip to the psychiatrist will cost you if you actually have gone that deluded… Nayru… pah…"

"No, he's saying the truth!" Toki quickly added. "I saw it too, believe me! A messenger of the goddess Nayru spoke to us."

"Yeah, right… And I'm the Great Fairy of Mayflies."

"Well, Great Mayfly Fairy… how do you explain this?" Kaze had noticed that he was still holding the small, blue pendant in his hand. He now proudly presented it to Tetra… as he did, the Triforce-symbol on the back of her right hand momentarily flashed up in a bright light.

"Huh!" Tetra quickly pulled her hand back, as the mocking look on her face disappeared. Wide-eyed and rather startled, she proceeded to ask, "You got that from… You saw a… a messenger of… NAYRU?"

"Or 'Oracle' or 'Medium' or something…She wasn't very specific about that." Kaze shrugged.

"What did she tell you?"

"Not much…" Kaze said. He was apparently still upset that he didn't get this woman to answer his last question. "But apparently, we need two more songs, if we want to be able to clean this mess up…"

"Great..." Tetra sighed. "…Two more… Why for the love of…Did you make this woman aware that this is _an emergency?"_

Now it was Toki's turn to shrug. "She apparently didn't have any other choice than to tell us to go search those songs… Oh, and apparently, one of them was hidden by a dancer."

"Something about 'praising the summer' too…But this doesn't exactly help us, since the songs were, according to the ancient Princess Zelda, hidden before the flood. We have no way of knowing where that dancer could have hidden it…"

"Hmm… 'dancing' and 'praising the summer' you say?" Tetra needed barely two seconds of pondering to have a revelation. "Ah, I get it!"

"You got what?" Kaze asked.

"Where do they praise the summer?"

"…"

"Ahh… When you hear 'summer', what is the first thing which comes to your mind?"

"Heat."

"And what is hot?"

"Uhm… fire?"

"Good! We are making progress!" Tetra stated, annoyed. "Where can we find fire?"

"…Pretty much everywhere?"

"Argh! I mean fire-related places!"

"Death Mountain… Or rather, Dragon Roost Mountain, wasn't it?" Toki stated, pretty much from the 'sidelines', causing Tetra to nod and look at her Link.

"Well, looks like your friend here saved this one for you."

"I-I would have figured it out too…!" he quickly stated.

"Yeah. Tomorrow evening."

"Shut up…" Kaze mumbled and blushed in utter shame. "...I mean…Tetra, isn't that whole relation a little bit farfetched? Going from 'summer' to 'volcano'?"

"Actually not." Toki had to argue. "That Nayru-woman mentioned that the song hidden by the dancer was the one of Din. And those bird-people living there are currently holding a Din-related festival, remember?"

Surprised, Kaze noticed that this was true. "Oh, right."

"Also, you mentioned a dancer." Tetra said. "There are a lot of dancers among the female Rito, so… we might get a clue there at very least."

"Alright…" Kaze nodded "Our next destination is Dragon Roost Island then."

* * *

"Everybody ready?" Tetra shouted out, and waited for everyone's reaction. All of those reactions were positive, satisfying her. Finally, for once, they were on-schedule.

"Alright…" Link jumped down from the rock he was standing on and landed before her feet. "I set the wind. We should be able to sail at full speed now." Proudly, he put away his baton and smiled.

Tetra just nodded agreeing. This was good… After all, every second counted. It was very early in the morning. If they got going right now, and managed to stay on-course all the time, they would probably reach Dragon Roost in the late afternoon.

"I just wish we knew about this song before we left this other island in the first place," Toki, who was sitting in the sand next to them, stated. "That would have saved time… Ah, I guess we can't have it easy, can we?"

"Probably… But, well, on the bright side, I got my baton back!" Kaze grinned "You have no idea how much faster the perfect wind direction can make you go!"

"Additionally, the festival on Dragon Roost started today," Tetra noted. "Getting near the dancers in order to single the right one out should be a piece of cake now."

"Well…"

Kaze turned around and made a gesture, with a big grin on his face. "Let's get going then! I'm sure Medli and Komali will be pretty surprised to see us! Hahah…!"

He had already run three steps, when he suddenly stopped and turned his head back at them, still smiling. "Hey…" He focused at Toki. "Looks like that seat wouldn't be empty after all, huh?"

Toki looked up, and appeared to need a few moments to get what Kaze was talking about. Afterwards, he looked a little surprised, as if he wouldn't have expected him to be still thinking of that. With another laugh, Kaze turned towards their boarding ship again. "Com'on, guys! Perhaps we'll even make it before the sun sets!"

He ran off, apparently expecting the others to follow right away. Both Tetra and Toki, however, only walked the way, as opposed to his overenthusiastic running, right until he was already at least 20 meters ahead, at which point they saw how Aryll stopped her older brother and started talking to him. From the look of the two siblings faces, they realized that this was gonna take a short while and that they didn't have to 'catch up' with their friend that quickly after all. Tetra used this opportunity to talk to Toki.

"You… changed," she said without even turning towards him.

"Hm?" Toki, who had been watching Kaze and Aryll up to this point, now raised his head and turned it towards Tetra in interest, as she continued to explain.

"Last time I saw you, you were… A whole lot more like him, if I remember right. Actually, you were even worse than him… Yeah, I even distinctly remember you coming up with that bright idea to mindlessly charge for the monsters, which attacked us out on the open sea. But now…"

She turned towards him. There was a skeptical look in her eyes:

"But now you behave like some kind of wise guru of harmony who has an on-off switch for his temper installed on his neck. Link was right, you really seem a whole lot mature now than you did before…Now I wonder why that is."

Tetra continued giving him this rather cold, serious look, which almost could be called a 'glare'… until he suddenly laughed.

"Heheheh…"

Something seemed to amuse him a lot.

"What's so funny?" Tetra asked confused.

"Nothing. Heheh…" he said, trying to control his laughter. "I just realized that this description of yours is probably correct and can't help finding it a little ironic that I just notice this now."

"Just now? As opposed to whe—"

"You're still as good at figuring out people's true nature as you always were, Zelda… You know, I always found that ability of yours to be really amazi—"

"_I TOLD YOU TO NOT CALL ME THAT_!"

Toki froze in a rather unnatural position, like a stance, as Tetra placed herself before him, her eyes looking so fiery, it was easy to imagine her bursting into flames any second. Still, even with this expression, her next sentence was spoken in a rather calm tone.

"Listen to me now…" she started. "No matter how much I might look like her… how many attributes and abilities I might share with her and how many similar habits I might have… even if I actually _am _her in a certain way… This doesn't change the fact that who you are speaking to right now is not this girl you met back in your time! I led a different life than her. The life of a different person. I have a name…" She remembered back to what the Princess told her in the temple. "…My own identity. Even if I used to be her once… I am not anymore. This is the way things are. Do you understand this?"

"Yes… but still… you…"

Tetra cut him short.

"People change with their memory," she told him."What one sees and experiences and goes through… this is what shapes a person. What gives a person a personality. Twenty years from now, I won't be exactly the same as I am now either. I won't change completely, since the memories I have right now will still remain with me… But it is de facto the same effect which is the reason for me being so different from the girl you remember… except for one thing." She glared at Toki.

"Whoever my ancestor might have been in your eyes… I don't have any recollection of ever being that person. And I thus don't consider that person 'me'. I can't replace her. Because I don't know how we are different, because I don't know exactly why we are different, because I don't know what being 'her' feels like… and because I don't want to."

Both her look and her voice turned a little softer: "…People are more than just their body or their soul, their 'core'. Everyone is also determined by their memories… the moments they experiences and made decisions by themselves… Those can't be replaced. By nothing. Never. Do you get that?"

Toki remained silent, as Tetra continued to examine every little movement in his expression.

"…I guess you do…" she said. She lowered her head for a second and sighed, before she raised it again and said, "I remember what you looked like, when she spoke to the two of you. The look in your eyes, when she said she was gonna 'become' me again." Her eyes narrowed. "I know that you are dissatisfied with who I am. I know that perfectly well. But really, look around you. Do you really think that little Princess you knew was gonna survive my life?"

As Tetra said this, Toki seemed somewhat offended for a split-second, until he seemingly realized that she was right and backed off a little. He bit his lip, apparently at loss of words to counter with.

"I am me. The pirate Tetra, who just so happens to be a descendant of Hyrule's royal family. That girl, who is talking you into the ground right now. That's who I grew up as. That's me. This person is who exists right now. And right now, it's her turn to live _her _life... And this is not going to change anytime soon, alright?"

Toki was still stunned, when Tetra, seemingly ending her speech, turned around and took a step. She however, halted again right away.

"Also… he's not a mere replacement for you."

"Hm?"

Tetra turned her head around:

"At least not to us…"

She made a very subtle gesture towards Aryll; so subtle, in fact, that one could have thought it was not really intentional, but Toki was aware that it was. And he also understood what she meant. As Tetra turned her head around again and continued walking towards Kaze, he remained standing place a few more seconds, watching Aryll laughing in joy and hugging her older brother for a few moments, before she ran away, towards their house, waving at Kaze all the time. He waved back.

Finally, Toki followed Tetra and approached Kaze. He reached them just in time to see how Kaze handed something to Tetra and Toki could her exclaim something surprise: "Huh? My Gossip Stone!"

"Hm? A Gossip Stone…?"

Toki, who had just reached them, took a look at the blue, unpolished stone, which Tetra was examining at the moment. "I kinda remember them being larger…" he concluded.

Tetra turned towards him, and she seemed still rather moody. "I don't know what you remember, but that's what the king called that stone and since it's nice to have a name for it, I'm going with it."

"Uhm…" Toki backed off somewhat intimidated, when he realized that Tetra, for some reason, was still giving him a death glare…

Said glare disappeared out of Tetra's face, as soon as she turned back towards her Link again: "Where did you get this?"

"Aryll found it on the Beach. Apparently, you lost it here," He stated. "She also said she made a cord for it, since the leather band was kinda worn out…"

"A cord…?" Tetra took a look "… Oh, really. You're right…"

"Also, look at this!" Kaze opened his fist and proudly presented them a cord, not unlike the one which was on Tetra's stone now. On its end, a few small seashells and a wooden pendant, resembling a gull, hung from the ends of the strings which the cord was made up of. "It's a traveling charm! Aryll said she made it for me, to make sure I'll be safe! Isn't it pretty?"

"Above all, it's cute!" Toki stated with a nod. "You're really lucky having such a caring little sister."

"Mmhm!" Kaze nodded, grinning. "Oh… I'd better take good care of this, what? Alright… where to put it…" He reached into his bag and searched around, until he finally found an empty bottle. "Ah! Perfect!" He opened it and put the charm inside. He smiled. "A little weird, but this way, it won't get broken among all the other stuff."

"What about your Spoils Bag?" Tetra asked.

"Ah…it's just for stuff I randomly find. Putting a gift in there would feel weird…" He looked at the bottle. "This way, it's a little bit more special."

He raised the bottle up into the air and watched as the sunlight was broken by its glass and the shells on the pendants shimmered in all possible colors. He smiled.

"Heheh…"

* * *

"Aryll and me heard Tetra shout when we were at the beach… did something happen?"

"Ah…"

Toki sighed as Kaze gave him a curious, yet also a little worried look. "Let's say we had… a kind of disagreement… kind of, yeah…"

"You called her 'Zelda' again, didn't you?"

Again, Toki sighed. Kaze bit his lip as he realized that his suggestion had been right. "You know, I warned you of doing that, didn't I? More than once, actually."

"…Yeah, but still… it's just…"

"Hm?"

Toki turned his head around, to look Kaze in the eyes. With a weak smile, he explained, "Whenever I see her eyes… I can't help but see Zelda. Even if she keeps claiming that she was nothing like her… her eyes tell me the exact opposite, you know?"

"Yeah, but still, you now saw how quickly she can explode if you use that name."

"…"

Kaze tried to read the other boy's somewhat annoyed expression and finally made another suggestion. "…You're just gonna avoid referring to her by name at all from now on, aren't you?"

Toki slightly rolled his eyes and nodded. "You bet I am." He then paused a few seconds, before he finally asked the question that had been on his mind for the past thirty minutes. "Say… is she particularly… unforgiving?"

"Hm… she can be from time to time…" Kaze stated with a somewhat nervous tone in his voice and a weird, unsure smile on his lips, which cause Toki to frown, as his suspicion about why she gave him this glare before appeared to have just been proven true. "But don't worry!" Kaze quickly stated "When there are more important issues, she usually is much too focused to care about something like that for too long. So, I guess, she will have forgotten about it by tonight."

Hearing this, Toki sighed one last time; this time, however, in relief. The boys then spent a few minutes at the railing, just silently watching the clouds pass by and the waves more next to their ship. While they did, Toki noticed how Kaze's expression became less enthusiastic from moment to moment and he finally sighed in an even more desperate way than Toki did before and mumbled:

"You know, before I said how Medli and Komali would surely be glad to have us celebrate with them, but…" He looked at the water and let his head hang down. "…Actually, I'm not in the mood to celebrate at all…I just don't really feel like it…"

Toki hesitated to answer to this statement, as he watched how Kaze melancholically alternately looked at the clouds and the water, from time to time sighing again. Finally, Toki asked, "You're thinking of…?"

"Uhh…" Kaze leaned against the reeling like an old piece of cloth, looking exhausted and upset.

"I just can't believe how naïve I was… I… I mean, I trusted her all along and believed every single word out her mouth, even though you warned me…I…" Kaze felt like smacking himself when he thought of his own stupidity.

"That she could trick me that easily… I guess I just refused to believe that there could be fairies with bad intentions. I was so convinced that all fairies are nice, that I didn't even listen to you, even though you have more experience with them than me…"

"It wasn't your fault," Toki quickly stated. "Fairies _are_ generally good creatures! …Something about this one was just off. Because, actually… you know…" He looked up to the sky. "I remember, that the Great Deku Tree once told us a story about fairies... how every fairy is born from a 'light'."

"A light?" Kaze asked. "I don't quite understand."

"I am not sure myself, but if I understood it right back then, a lot of things can be considered 'light'." Toki stated "A hope, a dream, laughter, any kind of positive feeling… a literal light too… Actually pretty much everything that's positive. Look, basically, fairies entirely consist of positive energy… so the very thought of a fairy being evil is illogical. Seen like this, you, technically, weren't wrong with what you thought."

"Yet, she tried to kill us…" Kaze shivered, as he remembered it. "And with me, she had almost managed to…I saw her eyes when she did… They were completely different from before… as if she was a different person. I could see my reflection in them, saw myself getting strangled to death… You know, I was actually scared… 'There's no way I'm gonna free myself now', I thought. 'I'm dead', I thought. And in that moment… I realized how vulnerable I had let myself become. I let her come so close, just because she pretended to be a friend. And this way, I almost got myself killed. I feel like an idiot…"

He let his head hang down, almost over the railing and took a deep breath, whispering, "I should have listened to you, instead of blocking all your warnings out. I'm so sorry…"

A short silence reigned, only a little disturbed by the sound of the waves passing by the ship. Finally, Toki slightly turned his head towards the other boy and said, "Hey… you know…"

"Hm?" With a expressionless look in his eyes**, **Kaze turned his head to Toki, as the latter told him, "Because of that… I wanted to tell you…" He hesitated a moment, as if he was not quite sure about what he would say now. "You know, I think that fairy lied…"

"We know that already."

"Uhm—no… That's not what I meant."

Toki now looked Kaze directly in the eyes, in order to avoid any further misunderstandings. "I was not talking about her betraying us. That's a fact certainly nobody has missed. What I meant was… when she claimed that she never really tried to help us… That was a lie too!"

"Huh?" In surprise, Kaze finally raised his lowered head again a little. "What do you mean?"

Toki started gesticulating, as the topic seemingly made him a little excited. "There are just too many things about her actions which don't check out with what she did in the temple! Like, how come we didn't drown when she wrecked our ship? We both ended up on the same island for some reason and were both alive and well! But before that, we were out for at least several hours! Even if us surviving the storm was a coincidence, this would have been the perfect opportunity to kill us, but she didn't!"

"Huh?" Surprised, Kaze looked up. He hadn't thought about this before, but… yeah. Actually, he was right…

" Also, think about the incident in Fire Temple!"

"Incident…?"

"The gust which helped us taking out the monster!" Toki looked very serious. "This was not me. I was absolutely unable to play the Ocarina in this heat! Whatever horrible kind of sound I could have managed to create in there should have done nothing! Also, the Song of Storms causes rain as well as wind… But there was no rain at all. Just this gust."

"Wait… a gust… You're not trying to tell me that she was the one who saved us back then?" Kaze's eyes had grown quite big already and they grew even bigger when Toki calmly nodded.

"Then she also helped us with the Dark Links, which were obviously summoned by Wizrova. Why should she do that if the two of them are allies?"

"But she hesitated to do it!" Kaze argued.

Toki shook his head. "Still, she did. And… she generally doesn't seem to be on too good terms with Wizrova. Did you see how she reacted when I compared her to Wizrova?"

A short silence. Kaze just stared, as he apparently didn't get anything anymore. Toki went on to explain, "…Basically, I think that her claim that she wanted to kill us was a lie. She had tons of opportunities to do it and never did. Also, how she told us everything about their plans…" He put his hand to his chin and pondered a little "…Nobody is actually that stupid. Really. Nobody. She wanted to inform us…"

"What if she really just _is _that stupid?" Kaze asked with a kind of pessimist, disillusioned tone in his voice. Yes, this all could just be evidence that 'Eyne', or whatever her name was, was not a really good strategist, rather than that she had been lying about wanting to kill them. Toki was just trying to cheer him up…

"…There is one more thing…"

Kaze looked and listened up. Toki now stopped gesticulating, trying to explain as calmly as he could.

"When the temple collapsed… she mentioned an "escape rope".

"An escape rope…?"

"And Farore. Do you understand?" Toki couldn't stop himself from getting a little more excited. "She _knew _that I casted Farore's Wind near the entrance! And five minutes… Look, you get quite a good sense of time once you've been under time-pressure for weeks like me,and I'm sure that those were pretty much exactly five minutes, just as she told us! She _wanted _us to escape!"

"But this makes no sense!" Kaze argued. "She tried to strangle me! If Tetra hadn't stopped her, I… _we _wouldn't be alive now anymore! Tell me, why would she do something like this, if she wasn't trying to assassinate us?"

A short pause followed this question, giving Kaze the feeling that Toki didn't have an answer to this. In reality, however, he was just pondering a little and came, much to Kaze's surprise, a few seconds later to a conclusion.

"…Do you remember what that little witch said after we fought her?"

"You mean… Wizrova?" Kaze asked.

The answer came with a nod. "Exactly. She told this fairy… Eyne… she said something about 'clinging'. You know, fairies are social beings, who like the security of having some kind of 'partner' around them. Maybe, when she was with us, as 'Eyne', I guess she…" He paused a second, before he resumed in a more structured way.

"Even if she was working against us all the time, I am sure not all of her friendly behavior was part of her act. I think she took a liking to us during the few days we spent together and is now a little reluctant to finish her orders... Which, I am quite sure, are not to plainly kill us. The way Twinrova spoke to us gave me the feeling that they still need us for something… probably personal revenge."

"And the strangling?"

"Uhm…"

It was obvious that Kaze bringing this point up again hit Toki a little unexpectedly for some reason. He seemed to search for something he could answer for a few seconds, before he just sighed and turned his head towards the ocean again. He now had an expression on his face which was rather similar to the one Kaze had on his just several minutes ago.

"Maybe… You know, maybe I just don't want to believe it either… that a fairy could do something like this to anyone… No, actually I really can't believe it." He looked up to the sky. "There has to be something we don't know. I'm sure!..."

"Huh…?" A little bit puzzled, Kaze raised his head and looked at Toki, asking, "...If you are thinking like that, how did you ever come to suspect her in the first place…?" He gnawed on his lower lip with a hint of guilt. "I mean… I wouldn't… I…"

"Look…" Toki sighed. "There's a difference between hoping for something and knowing sometimes it's really better to face the facts, instead of trusting in your hopes."

"…But you were hoping that your suspicions are wrong. The whole time…" Kaze realized and Toki nodded. A weird kind of disappointment, as well as a hint of anger mixed into his expression. "It was obvious that she was planning something, so I tried to be careful and intimidate her a little, so she'd spill the beans… But actually, I really hoped that I was worrying for nothing. I would have never thought that a fairy could hurt anyone that much on purpose… I…"

As he proceeded, his speech got more and more insecure with every word, until he finally fell silent. He then just gazed out to the ocean and watched the waves and clouds for a bit, before he finally whispered under his breath:

"…She didn't abandon me… I'm sure…"

Despite the low volume and muffled tone of this sentence, Kaze had heard it clearly and turned towards Toki again. Just now Kaze realized the reason why Toki was saying all of this…

…His fairy… this fairy, whom he lost…

…What was her name again…?

—Oh yes, now he remembered. …And now…

"Hey…" he leaned against the reeling and smiled innocently at Toki. "Tell me of Navi!"

"Huh?"

Kaze responded to Toki's calm look: "Well, you mentioned her a few times and she sounds like a nice person from this… But, to be honest, I barely have an image of her yet and that kind of bugs me. I mean, if she really used to be such a good friend of 'mine' once… I feel kinda bad for not remembering her at, you know?"

Toki laughed a short moment and shook his head a little. "I can't help you to call the memory forth, remember? I'm that memory."

"But I can make my own memories, if you tell me what she was like!" Kaze argued. "And maybe I'll be able to recognize her if we meet one day!"

"Uhm…Alright then…" Toki closed his eyes. "Navi… Navi was really… a special fairy…

"I remember the day we met… She woke me from a nightmare. Her impatience was the first thing I saw of her… I soon realized that she was obsessed with schedules and efficiency, but I guess that's only natural, given what huge responsibility I had. I was horrible of taking responsibility by myself, so she pretty much supervised me all the time and tried to correct my mistakes and give me tips… Actually, her nagging could get really annoying from time to time, but I knew that she was only trying to help, after all. She was always trying to be polite and correct… When we first met, she was greatly dissatisfied with finding me asleep when the sun had already risen hours ago… But, I only saw her getting that irate again a few other times afterwards. Generally, she was always trying to avoid conflict… Oh, yes, now I remember, I once shouted at her because I couldn't bear her ranting anymore."

"What happened?"

"She didn't talk to me for one whole day… I… felt lonely."

There was something melancholic in Toki's voice when he said this.

"Navi and I had our differences too… but she's still one of my best friends… the one who was by my side when I was all alone in a place I knew nothing about… She gave everything she had to help, and she never asked for anything in return… Navi…"

Behind Toki's eyes, his mind seemed to be drifting off into a daydream, which Kaze quickly noticed, only reassured in his conclusion that the other Link's rejection of the idea that more fairies could be as malevolent as 'Eyne' had proven to be, stemmed from his belief in Navi…

…And Kaze was sure that this belief was not in vain. Yes, he just knew it. This Navi, of whom he had told him… she didn't abandon him. She would have never done that. There had to be a reason why she ever left him… Not that he would have been able to search for that reason.

After all, all he knew of that fairy now was Toki's description of her. He had never seen her himself—well, actually, he did… it's just that he had no access to those memories. Especially not now. But if they had really been such close friends… he too would have loved to meet her 'again'. Just to find out how much of the image of this fairy, which had built up in his mind now, was actually accurate.

Maybe, he just had to keep his eyes open and look around. After all, Toki was right. There was no reason why this fairy shouldn't be alive anymore. And if she was really still alive, there still might be a chance that he'd cross paths with her one day. And once they did…

…Toki and he looked very similar—of course!

Yes, if he ever met a blue fairy who suddenly started to stare at him in a nostalgic manner, he'd just walk straight up to her and ask, "Hello, are you Navi?" Yes, that's exactly how he'd do it—

—but why did that scenario sound so incredibly awkward in his head?

Kaze would have pondered about better ways to plan a possible 'reunion' with this fairy, wouldn't he have been distracted by a sudden noise. A screech, to be exact, most likely produced by Tetra's voice.

"Eek!…AH! Damn it!"

Alarmed, Kaze turned around. "Tetra, are you—" He stopped talking, right when he saw what was actually causing Tetra's anger… and he chuckled.

Tetra stood in her usual spot, her cheeks dyed in a crimson red color…

…trying to keep her hair, which was waving around uncontrollably in the wind, out of her face. And she was everything but successful.

Just now Kaze remembered that she had forgotten to get herself a new barrette when they left Outset Island. Thinking of this, he tried to keep his silent chuckling from turning into a loud, mischievous laughing, but it was hard to do so, since the view was just too hilarious. His cheeks increased in size and he finally couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter.

Miss Tetra, mighty Princess of Pirates, Terror of all Seven Seas, in intense battle with the worst of all her adversaries:

Approximately 1.5 meters of gold blonde hair!

"ARGH! LINK, STOP LAUGHING! DO SOMETHING!" she screamed.

This sentence only caused Kaze's laughter to get louder. Finally, he turned towards the sky, took his Wind Waker, made some useless, but playful-looking movements with it and shouted, "Oh~, Wind Goddess Farore~! Would you please be so nice to keep the wind away from our Tetra? While still blowing it into our sails? Tha~nk you!"

Now Toki too couldn't restrain himself from laughing any longer. The only one apparently not amused was, you guessed it, Tetra. Boiling with rage, she tried to give the boys a death glare, but couldn't since her hair kept obscuring her view. Three more times she tried to get it out of her face, before she finally snapped.

"OK! I'VE HAD IT!" With a quick move of her left hand, she managed to gather all of her hair in a single, tight bundle in it, which she clutched with unnecessarily much force. She drew her cutlass out of its sheath and exclaimed, "Alright! HAIR, MEET BLADE!"

"Wait a sec!"

Just when Tetra tried to rid herself of the golden flow of annoyance for all time by detaching it with a single, clean cut of her blade, she felt the grip of someone else's hand around her wrist, holding her back from doing it. "Huh?..."

"If you cut it off now, it won't grow back to this length in years! Just a moment…"

Somebody took the bundle of hair out of her hand. She felt how someone did something with it on the back of her head…

"Alright… That should do it, Zelda."

"Zelda…?"

Just now Tetra realized that the one who had stopped her just now hadn't been Link. At least not _her _Link. She finally noticed this slight nuance in this voice, which made it different from the voice of her dear friend. Turning around, she found Toki standing there, with a roll of bandages in one hand and his sword in the other. Apparently he had used the latter to cut off a piece of the former.

Tetra now touched the back of her head, in order to find out what the boy before her had done, and found her hair tied up in a ponytail, a piece of bandages serving as a ribbon. "Oh…" Her hair was still moving in the wind, but not as much as it did before and it wasn't getting anywhere near her face. "…Yeah… It should work like this."

It was only now that Tetra actually realized what she had almost done… Cutting off her hair… Thank goodness he had stopped her…

She took a look at the boy, who appeared to be slightly nervous all of the sudden, fumbling a little with his fingers. "Oh–I called you Zelda again, didn't I? …Excuse me…"

"Forget it…" she sighed, before she looked the boy in the eyes and smiled a little bit "…Thank you, Link."

"Heheheh…"

This laughter had been Kaze's. Ripped out of her short moment of gratitude, Tetra turned around to him. "What are you still laughing about?"

"You just called him 'Link'!"

"Huh?"

Even though it was obvious from Tetra's slightly startled look that she understood what was so special about this, Kaze still went on to explain it with a big grin on his face: "This is the first time you called him by my name. Other than that, you haven't called him anything but 'You', ever since you first met him." As Kaze was still saying this, Tetra's face had already taken on a weird, slightly irritated expression. She sweated a few drops of water.

Link was right… She hadn't called that other boy by this name until now… On purpose.

But the reason was not the kind of thought she could voice, especially not right into these friends amusedly grinning face. So she quickly turned her head away from both of the boys.

"So what? It's… his name too… isn't it? Still better than using those silly nicknames!"

A slight blush appeared on her face as she said that, for some reason. Kaze knew that blush. He liked to call it the "I'm-too-proud-to-say-what-exactly-is-on-my-mind-right-now" blush. He rolled his eyes at it and sighed.

In the meantime, Tetra had turned her head towards the boys again, yet she wasn't really looking at them, since she was busy fumbling around with her new hairstyle. "Yeah, this should do it until I got myself a new barrette…"

"I think you should keep it like it is. You look cute like this!"

Kaze's voice. As soon as the words reached her pointed ears, Tetra froze in place, eyes wide open, skin turning crimson red for a few seconds. The following comment by Toki didn't exactly make it any better:

"Yeah, without that weird knot-thing, she at least _looks_ like a girl!"

Tetra's head suddenly shot up as she glared at the boys before her and shouted, "N-Nobody asked for your opinion, Link!"

"My opinion, or his opinion?" Kaze asked with a wide grin, pointing alternately at himself and Toki. Tetra, still red in the face, growled at the sight of him doing this and finally just turned around without any further words, marching towards the door of the underdecks and disappearing behind it.

"Ahh…" Toki sighed, as soon as she was out of hearing range. "Seems like we got her pretty angry at us with this one… I just hope I didn't make it unnecessarily worse with the last one…"

Kaze shook his head and leaned back a little. "You just said the truth! She really looks better without that knot… I wonder why she keeps insisting on that strange hairstyle… Hey, by the way, that ribbon was a great idea."

Just shrugging, Toki also tried to take a more relaxed position, before he responded, "Well, I just couldn't watch her cutting down her hair like this… She just…"

"Looks too much like your Zelda, right?"

Toki didn't answer, but he raised his head and looked up to the sky. A few more seconds Kaze waited for a response, before he finally just accepted that the topic was done and did the same as Toki, watching the still reddish clouds of the late dawn slowly turn more and more white. He watched them move, change shape, become figures, floating, drifting… blurring…

…as his eyelids lowered and lowered and…

Kaze's mind noticed what was happening and quickly turned alert again.

"…Huh?" Surprised, he stared into the air for a few seconds. Had he just almost fallen asleep in the broad daylight? And that after at least seven hours of good sleep… that hadn't happen to him in a long time now. Either he was really out of shape and couldn't cope with all this stress anymore, or…

…He decided to use the time till they reach Dragon Roost Island for a good, long nap… just to be sure.

_

* * *

A long nap… please, let tell me that I was just napping…_

She seriously wished that what she experienced had just been a bad dream, but her very nature made it impossible for her to have nightmares without a reason, so it didn't really matter. She knew that once she opened her eyes, she would find herself imprisoned. Enclosed, chained, hanging from the ceiling… whatever insulting way her captor preferred to see his or her victims in. For this reason, she was everything but keen on opening her eyes. But what would keeping them closed have changed? She might just as well have opened them and seen where she was…

…Looked like her captor had gone for enchanted crystals. Of course, this made sense, since those were the best method to keep magic-users of all kind in check. And since her magic was pretty much her only true strength, she was helpless within this thing. A sigh passed her lips. Of course, she had already known that she would probably not be able to escape, but it still hurt to have whatever small glimmer of hope she had just crushed like this. If just _he _was here… Well, of course, he would come. It was only a matter of time. He always came…

…But what if just this was the enemies plan? She shivered. No, everything but this. If they caught him—no, actually, currently _them_—as well, everything was over… But, actually… how far had the enemy already come?

She let her eyes sweep across the area. Through the glass-like walls of her crystal prison, she could spot five more like her… the others. A gasp escaped under her breath. They got them… all of them. She wasn't the only one. She whispered a silent curse without making a sound, even though her volume didn't really matter. From what she guessed, the walls of this 'cage' were probably sound-proof. Still, there was one way how she could make her presence known to someone else.

Saria closed her eyes and concentrated.

_Where are we…?_

The voice of an adult woman answered her.

_So, you are awake, girl…? I am not entirely sure, but I think we are inside the Spirit Temple._

Surprised, Saria looked up.

_Your temple? But how…?_

_I have no idea. Actually, it shouldn't even be possible; the section this place resembles was actually flooded. _

_So someone drained the water out of the room, just to keep us here?_

_I doubt it. This would have been an unnecessary waste of energy._

The last sentence was spoken by a different voice, a male voice. Saria turned towards a crystal, which she thought to be yellow… it was hard to tell, since she only saw it through the greenish shell of her own crystal.

_Then where do you suppose we are, Rauru?_

_There are several possibilities. I have yet to rule out the less probable ones…_

_I just hope, Link managed to escape…_

Saria recognized the last voice as Ruto's and turned towards where she thought her to be.

_Escape…? You mean, the enemy might have managed to get a hold of him already?_

_He was present when I was captured… Since my seal was the last he undid, the enemy no longer saw any need to conceal their intentions and… I was taken away, before I could see how the battle ended._

Saria trembled in shock.

…_And I told him to break the seals… By our goddesses, what have I done?_

_It was not your fault alone…_

Darunia's voice rose up in her mind.

_We all have been fooled and noticed too late._

_Yes. We all failed to see what was truly happening._

Impa added_:_

_It took Nabooru to realize the inactive spell that had been cast on her after the Princess's visit for us to notice that our awakening had been planned… probably it was even the true reason for the one who caused all of this to disturb the order in the first place._

_I doubt this, _Rauru disagreed. _Using such complicated measures, just to cause the Hero of Winds to awaken us? This is ridiculously complicated. No, I am sure… the culprit wants something this age can't give him or her._

_The Hero of Winds… _

Saria but her hands down and looked at the floor

_That poor boy who carries Link's soul… is in danger now, just because I acted too quickly, without thinking the situation through…_

_You know that this is not correct, Saria, _Rauru insisted. _It was me who asked you to contact him._

_And all of us agreed,_ Impa added.

Saria didn't dare to push this argument even further, but she was still convinced that the guilt for the quick progression of their foes' plans was hers. Without even a single second of hesitation or consideration, she had gladly accepted the offer to call out to the Hero of Winds, to call him to the Forest Temple. She could have thought about better solutions first, but she didn't. The desire to meet this boy was too strong. Yes, she had wished to meet her old friend Link again, there was no denying. Even if he wouldn't have been able to recall her, if he wouldn't have even known her name, she just wanted to see him smile and look at her with this curious look one more time. The greater had her joy, of course, been when Link, the Link who grew up by her side, suddenly came, accompanying the boy she had called. Exactly as she had known him, with the same memories and the same appearance. This had been more than she had dreamed of. Not a second had she questioned it, not a moment thought about possible negative implications of this boy's sudden appearance. She, a sage, had sacrificed consideration and careful action for the pleasure of her own desires. Without overstating, she could say: She had been drunk with joy.

…And just now, that she woke up from the sleep that befell her when she was captured, in a certain sense 'the morning after being drunk', she realized that this day, when she met those two boys… the Link who remembered her and the one who didn't, something had been… off…

"The Hero of Winds…" she whispered to herself, trying to picture this boy, whom she had paid almost no attention to when she her childhood friend again. He had looked like him, but slightly different. The differing features weren't too striking, the one that was the most obvious was, that his hair had been several shades brighter and maybe even a little finer in volume… The less noticeable differences included a slightly weaker body-build and less height. …Saria was surprised how much she still remembered. After all, she had barely looked at all at this other boy. Still, he had stayed on her mind… along with her failed attempt to merge the two existences into one…

…Why hadn't worked? Just now the question bugged her mind. It should have worked. It just should have.

…The Hero of Winds. Something was off about the Hero of Winds.

…_When I first met the new Hero… _Saria told the others, _I felt that something was… different from the Link I know. Was I just imagining this…?_

…_No, Saria. You are not the only one who felt it._

Darunia.

Saria listened, surprised. So this _was _of significance?

_Indeed, _Rauru added. _When I met the young Princess, she spoke of the boy for a while. When I noticed that her story contained strange components, I decided to gather information… And I did. I came to a conclusion. _

A conclusion? Saria listened closely, childlike curiosity taking over the more mature parts of her personality. What kind of conclusion could Rauru have possibly gained from such strange phenomenon?

_I couldn't quite believe it, when the idea first came to my mind, but I am now more and more convinced that it is truly the case… This boy… it seems like a tensei occurred, rather than a sairai._

_A… A tensei?_

Saria's eyes let off the floor and started searching for Rauru again, since she desperately wished to face him now, so she could be sure he was not joking.

_This can't be! _She insisted. _The circle is supposed to be continued by sairai, in order to keep it untarnished! That's how I was told… tensei… that would be against the ancient order!_

_The ancient order was over the moment Hyrule fell, thousands of years ago, _Impa disagreed. _It seems like the Goddesses themselves had rolled the dice anew. _

Saria couldn't believe it. A tensei… yet, it made sense. After all, this would explain so much… well, except…

_This still does not solve the riddle, how two of the same can exist side by side, _she 'voiced' her thought.

_This 'riddle' has turned out to be a whole lot less mysterious than we thought, _She heard Ruto answer. _It was a simple measure to prevent the erasure of the current hero's memory and consciousness, not more. That such a measure was needed is one more evidence pointing towards a tensei._

_I see…_

Saria suddenly started to understand what kind of situation they were actually facing. Rauru's voice reached her mind again.

_In any case, this ensures us that the boy's current state could be an even greater peril to him than we previously thought. After all, he might be missing some of the stronger qualities now…_

_You don't mean…?_

Somehow, Ruto actually managed to mentally gasp and Saria felt tempted to do the same. This was everything but good news.

_In that case, we have to help them! _Nabooru insisted. _Those children will not be able to cope with the situation alone! It's impossible… _

_In actuality, it might even already be too late, _Rauru claimed. _This could be part of the foe's plan as well… ridding themselves of the treat of the hero, without completely killing him._

_But why not kill him? I don't understand! _Ruto asked.

_Maybe because they still need him for something that will happen after their plan succeeds… A kind of revenge, I guess._

_Revenge…? Then, who are 'they'? _Saria asked _Who are the ones doing all this?_

_Why don't you just take a look yourself, Saria?_

"…Huh?"

Salia now stopped concentrating on the conversation and focused on the world around her instead. As she was still searching for the wished hint concerning their enemy's identity, a young girl's voice reached her ear:

"… And after we're finished, I can keep them, right, right?"

"Yes, why not? We don't have any better use for them anyway!"

"Oh, yes! This is going to be fun! Hee hee hee!"

The girl's laughter sent shivers down Saria's spine and she felt the unpleasant sensation of being watched. As she turned around, she finally spotted the girl in question… featuring grey skin and piercing red eyes. Saria actually felt like backing off when this youthful, yet obviously malevolent being approached her, but she refrained from it. …Who was this?

The girl looked at Saria with big, mischievous eyes and giggled, "Mistresses, this one is so pretty! …But what she is wearing is boring. Can I redress her, once I add her to the others?"

The voice of an elderly woman from farther back in the room, responded, "Of course. Those are your dolls, you can do whatever you want with them."

The urge to back off suddenly returned and this time, Saria had no choice but to obey it, as her eyes widened and she gulped. D-Dolls…

The slightly monotonous voice of the girl sounded through the crystal shell again, as she stroke it with her hand in a manner, which looked like she was trying to clean it and get a better view: "Forest Sage, Forest Sage, you will look so cute, once you wear the dress I'll pick for you! And then, I'll let you go out in that dress and we'll play…with knives under our skirts… We will roam that Great Sea… pick an island and lure the foolish humans to us, over and over again… until none of them are left. We will have so much fun. Hee hee…."

Saria sincerely wished for this to be a nightmare, but she was still aware that is was real. Never before had she more wished for her friend Link to be by her side, but at the same time, she feared the moment he would barge in to save them. If he was really in the state they currently suggested him to be in…

"Ah, you and your dolls…"

A new voice attracted Saria's attention and she turned towards it. She was struck with surprise when she saw the voice's owner… a fairy. But not any fairy… This was the fairy, who had been with the two boys when they came to her sanctuary…

…She should have known. She should have known, she should have known!

Why had she been so blinded and distracted? She could have noticed… she could have saved everything. Yes, Saria was convinced, she could have saved everything…

But why a fairy? Just why?

Saria could feel this fairy's presence… Yes, it was a real fairy, without doubt. And actually, it didn't feel like an unusual one either… So why was she here? Here with the enemy? How could she even help them without being overrun by the desire to end her own life?

It was against all nature of fairies to act like this, because a fairy would rather sacrifice herself than endanger that of another creature. And, on top of that, this one had been with _Link_… So how could she do this? Her conscience should be killing her right now…

Saria continued watching what was happening.

"You have, like a million of those!" the fairy claimed with a quick gesture of her left arm. "Where do you plan on storing them all?"

The little witch's eyes lit up in excitement. "So you're jealous?"

"Uhm… what?" The fairy jerked a little when the girl approached her and sang:

"You are jealous! Jealous, Jealous, I can feel it~! …But…Are you jealous of me… or someone else? Hmm~?"

"Uhm…"

As the girl came even closer, the fairy backed off. The girl seemed to enjoy the sight of the fairy breaking out into cold sweat as she did this. After a few moments like this, however, they were interrupted by the old woman's voice again.

"Oh yes, while we are at you, would you be as kind as to inform us _just what _this performance today was supposed to be?"

Surprised, the fairy snapped out of the frozen pose the little witch's eyes had caused her to take and flew towards the voice: "W-What? I brought you the last sage, didn't I?"

"We also told you to bring us the Princess and the Hero, but, as far as we see, they are not here, are they?"

"Well…" The fairy quickly looked away. "I guess I underestimated them a littleShe turned towards the voice again. "But this won't happen again! I swear!"

"Underestimated? You threatened them with death! And that when we strictly forbid you to…"

"I wasn't actually about to do it… I just wanted to scare them a little…This is always an imposing thing to say... I thought…Yeah…"

"It's also what activated that silly little girl's Light Force. You idiot! Going around making empty threats… you almost ruined everything!"

As the fairy shrunk a little under the scolding, a second voice suddenly joined it:

"Oh, Koume, don't be _too_ upset. After all, it's just a stupid little fairy. Did you seriously expect much from her?"

"No, but I did, in fact, expect _something!" _

This was when the fairy suddenly shouted, "I brought you the sages, didn't I?" She pointed at Saria, who was still listening closely."And that after your precious little Wizrova, almost ruined everything, by—KYA~N!"

With this scream, the fairy fell out of the air to the ground.

"Watch your mouth, you insect!" one of the woman's voices screamed at her. "You are everything but in the position to claim that Wizrova was not doing her work! She was, in fact, only trying to bring us what you failed to bring us for days!"

"Ungh…" The fairy got up from the floor again and went on to defend herself right away. "I just wanted them to break that last seal before I bring them to you!"

"That last seal was a joke! We could have done this ourself in seconds! You know that we work under strict time pressure, don't you? We only sent Wizrova in because your progress was absolutely intolerable! Be glad that those brats didn't damage her when you failed to give her support. Otherwise we'd have to take… unpleasant measures for you now…"

The fairy reacted to this statement with slight surprise and whispered under her breath, "…Just… failed to give support…? But…I…"

She took a look at the little witch nearby, who just giggled a little and gave the fairy a weird, focused look. "Heheheh…"

"Yes, she told us about everything," one of the women's voices stated. "How you just cowardly waited while those so-called heroes almost managed to figure out a way to defeat her!"

"…Almost…?... Uhm! But why does she even need to tell you?" the fairy asked, somewhat nervous. "I thought, you were watching everything via the…"

"Supplying her with power for the spell that was meant to capture the hero was a very difficult task. We had neither the time, nor the energy to keep the connection stable."

"…O…Oh…"

For some reason, the fairy now seemed somewhat relieved. She touched her left ear and sighed. However, she also gave Wizrova yet another quick look and formed words with her lips as she did so. The little witch responded by looking at her with half-closed eyes and a grin. The fairy jerked. Apparently she had not intended for the girl to notice her whispering whatever she just whispered.

One of the women's voices spoke again. "However… this won't happen again now. Not now, that we have the most excellent power-source we could have… Heheheh…"

When Saria noticed how both, the fairy and the witch turned around to look at her and the other sages as the voice said this, she was shocked and shivered.

The little witch Wizrova smiled. "Yes… And after you drained all out of them, I can make my dollies from the shells, right?"

"Well, of course!"

"Hee hee hee hee hee…"

Wizrova floated over to the crystals with the sages and let her eyes sweep across them once more. "Those are so nice… My very own sage dollies…Hm… once those are finished, I have eight 'good' dollies…" She turned towards the fairy.

"Say, will you play dollies with me then?"

"Huh?" The fairy looked up in surprise, her pupils narrowing for a second, but she turned away again as quickly as she could. "W-What…? Don't be stupid… Dolls. Pah… those are for little girls… yeah…"

"Ah, and I was so sure, you'd love to play with those special two at least…"

After saying that, she slowly followed the fairy's eyes, as if to observe the reaction …and a big smile seemed to indicate that was she saw was just what she had been hoping for. For some reason, the fairy was frozen mid-air with rather shocked eyes, except for her wings still fluttering. The little witch laughed at that sight. The fairy tried to look away, but instead her eyes became more fixed on the little witch and her look hardened to an angry, yet frightened, gaze.

"Aww, your cruel humor is just adorable!" one of the women's voices stated with pleasure.

Wizrova turned towards the voices as she heard that. "I am acting as you meant me to act. I desire what the mistresses' want me to desire…and there is nothing else." She turned to the side, slightly glancing at the fairy. "I wonder what suffering feels like… Would you tell me some time? Maybe when we're playing with those dolls?"

Every attempt of the fairy to keep up a calm act failed and she trembled fearfully, followed by the laughter of the two elderly women's voices and the young witch next to her.

The fairy tried to escape the laughing by turning away, but this attempt failed due to the simple fact that sound is carried through all of the air, not just in the direction you're looking at. Still, she apparently felt safer looking at the sages, rather than the witch and the direction the voices came from, right until she spotted the one of the female sages looking at her with big asking eyes. It was a young girl, dressed in green… The friend of one of the boys, she had traveled with…

The sage tried to say something, she knew it, because she saw her lips moving, but she couldn't hear a sound through the crystal shells. Yet she was sure that she knew what the girl had tried to say: _'Help me.'_

"Help me…" Saria whispered. "Please… you have been with Link… you were with him… you have seen what kind of person he is. I know you don't want him to die, do you? Help me, and we can save him… everybody…! If you just… help us…"

Saria knew that the fairy probably couldn't hear her, yet she felt that she would understand what she meant to say… But the fairy kept looking at her without any readable expression, before she slightly opened her mouth, as if to say something, but then lowered her head and shook it. She looked up again and gave Saria a rather harsh look. She formed her word with her lips… a word, which Saria recognized to be "No".

And as Saria was still asking herself why the things had to happen the way they happened right now, the loud laughing of three witches still sounded through the air of the whole area…

* * *

"Well~… who was that voice that I heard in here before?"

"So you heard a voice?"

The calm smile on Nayru's lips made it hard not to believe her words, but Ralph still looked a little skeptical. He would have sipped a little bit of his tea, just for the sake of doing something, but he still remembered the last time he ignored Nayru's warning to let the tea cool for at least 3 minutes and thus refrained from it for the sake of his own tongue. After all, he still needed it to say things like:

"I thought I heard Link's voice…" He reconsidered that statement a moment. "…Now that I think about this, it sounded a little weird. The pitch was much higher and something was just… generally off…"

Nayru's calm smile remained the same it had been before. "Then it might just not have been him, right?"

"Hm… still…" Ralph leaned a little towards his old friend. Nayru just closed her eyes and shrugged, while Ralph's attention was attracted by something "Those two cups…" He focused his eyes on the half-empty tea cups on the table "Someone was with you… before I came… right? Where did they go?"

When Nayru remained silent and smiling, Ralph lost a great part of his patience and got a little louder. "Oh, come on, Nayru! We've been friends forever now, why won't you tell me?"

"…"

He looked away, slightly offended. "You're weird today! Usually it's that weird girl in the Maku Tree you can't talk to without getting the metaphorical ellipsis for an answer…"

Nayru finally broke her silence when she heard this. "Speaking of Farore, did you go see her like I asked you to?"

Her attempt to change topic apparently worked, as Ralph sighed and shook his head. "I tried to, but the Maku Tree told me that she was still locking herself in her chamber. There's no getting in and it doesn't look like she was coming out anytime soon. The Maku Tree told me that she's apparently working on something."

"I just hope she finishes soon and comes out again…" Nayru took a spoon of sugar and mixed it into her tea. "If we don't embark for Hyrule tomorrow, we won't make it… I just hope that at least Din is already on her way."

"Oh, yes, I remember. You're going to meet up with Link and the Princess of Hyrule there, right? Yeah, Farore is rather young… I don't think it would be good if she had to travel there all on her own."

But Nayru shook her head. "No, it's not the traveling I'm worried about, it's just…" She paused a second and looked at the ceiling.

"…Once Farore started doing something, it's hard to focus her mind on something different again. I'm afraid she might miss the ceremony over her work…"

"Don't worry. I'm sure, she wouldn't let you and Din down like this." With those words, Ralph tried to cheer Nayru up with an uplifting smile. She reacted by returning her own, calm smile.

Yes, Ralph was probably right. After all, Farore was a very reliable girl.

* * *

"Uhm… now, how… oh, yes, this might be the right way to express this… good… and now…ah, well…Done!"

She put down the feather and looked at the paper in expectation.

"…Hm… still just bronze… huh? Not even a silver page…? Is it really this insignificant? Or maybe I'm not going a good enough job… Ah… One more secret to keep, as it looks…"

She continued to look at her work for a few seconds, before she finally cast a single smile upon it and picked up the feather again.

"Well, at very least, doing this is fun. Heheh… I wonder what will happen next?"

_-Note_

_After a long, long gap follows a long, long chapter. ;-p_

_I apologize for the hiatus, both me and my beta were a little bit busy. _

_A lot happens in this chapter. Oracle-of cameos, lots and lots of character development, theorizing and information spam, the sages actually doing something… Oh, as for the two random Japanese words which the sages use, they both basically mean the same thing, but with a slight difference. I'm just abusing them as "Codewords" for a plotpoint in a latter chapter. ;-P _

_The song in the beginning of the chapter is the one Nayru things in the beginning of Oracle of Ages, by the way. _


End file.
